Dawn and the Splendiferous, Sublime Glorificus
by Willy Wanka
Summary: Dawn and Glory feel a connection the moment they lay eyes on each other. Though neither one understands the true nature of their bond at first, the more they encounter one another the stronger these feelings grow. The story goes episode to episode in season 5, focusing on important interactions between Dawn and Glory, other events of the season unfold normally, until they don't.
1. First Encounter

First Encounter: S5 Ep12.

"Kid, c'mere," Glory commanded, raising a hand and snapping her fingers imperiously to the unseen girl behind her.

Dawn froze, unsure of her next move. She looked to her sister, instinctively, for guidance. It was clear from their posture that this was the beautiful demon that Buffy had been struggling against.

"Not asking again," came the impatient demand. Her tone was similar to the condescension Dawn was all too used to hearing from Buffy and her friends, but there was something else in the woman's voice that was familiar. Almost comforting, like a smell from childhood that brings a memory with it.

Dawn set her shoulders and walked around the seated intruder, turning to look down at her only once she made it to the center of the room.

The sight that greeted her was as unexpected as it was breathtaking. Sitting casually in their living room was the most gorgeous woman Dawn had ever laid eyes on. Buffy had said that Glory reminded her of Cordelia so Dawn had expected her to be attractive but nothing so grand as the woman before her.

Luckily, one skill Dawn had picked up over the years was an impenetrable poker-face. It was a useful talent to possess when one was prone to being kidnapped on a regular basis. It was never good to let a captor know they intimidated you, it tends to bring out the worst in Vampires and the like.

Dawn had slid into an expression of contemptuous boredom before she had even set her eyes on Glory, and wasn't about to let it slip. No way was Dawn going let an overblown Baddie-Of-The-Week know that she privately thought that she positively radiated scrumptiousness.

Glory, for her part, had no kind of poker-face at all. Her eyes widened at the sight of the Slayer's little sister, and an almost goofy smile blossomed on her lovely face.

"Well you are just the darlingest thing I ever did see in my life!" she cooed. "What's your name honey?"

"Dawn,"

"Dawn, did you know your sister took my key, Dawny, and she won't give it back?" Glory took a breath, watching the face of the captivating child while listening to the Slayer's heartbeat accelerate. This little sister was a definite pressure point for that mousy blond nuisance. "I bet you know where she put it, don't you?"

"She doesn't know anything," Buffy interrupted, rather predictably. Glory didn't even have to prod Dawn, she could sense offense pouring off the teenager like perfume.

"I know some stuff," Dawn objected.

"I bet she takes your stuff all the time without asking, doesn't she?" Glory wanted to keep the conversation close to the matter at hand, and hammer home the importance of the Key to this new player. If sibling rivalry ever grew into something more malign this human cherub might just hand her the Key on a bloody alter. "Where's my Key, Dawn?"

"Go upstairs, Dawn," The Slayer's command was barely more than a whisper.

Dawn couldn't believe she was being dismissed again. "You're always talking about stuff I'm not supposed to hear," Dawn wanted to throw the words in her sister's face. All anyone was doing was talking, and still she had to leave. Unbearable! "I'm going to figure it out you know!"

"Oooooh, I like her!" Dawn could hear Glory saying as she left, the unexpected praise crashing into her like a wave of pure delight. Dawn made a point of not looking back at her as she stormed off. Glory must be some kind of empathy demon or charisma demon or something, Dawn reasoned, making people adore her before punching them into oblivion.

So Glory is looking for a key, and Buffy is keeping a secret. Dawn was no fool. She had helped Willow with the research and the book hunting enough over the years, she knew how to uncover the truth as well as the next scooby. She would get to the bottom of it. That will teach Buffy to try and shut her out.


	2. The Bottom of it

The Bottom of It: S5 Ep13

"Dawn was your Mom brought back in?" Ben asked in what Dawn assumed was meant to be a soothing voice. "Is that why you're here?"

Dawn clutched her mug of cocoa a little more tightly as the flash of anger passed. Ben didn't understand what a cruel question it was. How could he? Nobody could understand what she was going through.

"No," she muttered. "My _Mom_ is just fine,"

"Is there anybody I can call? Your sister?"

Buffy. Just hearing Ben mention her brought back the cruel memory. _She's not real. We're not her family._ Dawn had never been so hurt before. She wondered why the monks would instil her with memories of what a jerk her sis- the Slayer, not her sister.

"I don't have a sister,"

"Oh, you two have a fight?" Ben asked gently. "It's ok, I know how that goes. I got a sister too. They can be a real pain sometimes, can't they?"

Dawn nodded. She had to admit, Ben had the whole bedside manner thing down pat. She was already starting to feel a little better. His sympathy meant something. He was a doctor after all, and it didn't hurt any that he looked like an underwear model, or maybe a stripper version of a doctor.

"I got a sister too," Ben went on, "I tell you there have been a lot of nights I wished she didn't exist,"

That was the wrong thing to say. Dawn closed her eyes, concentrating on staying calm. It wouldn't do her any good to start yelling at Ben for trying to help. Not when he really was only trying to help. She didn't want to act like a freakazoid making a scene in a hospital. Sunnydale and the hospital in particular already had enough crazies.

"It's not Buffy. It's me. I'm the one that doesn't exist," Dawn let out a shaky breath, and heard Ben saying something, something comforting, but it was too late. "No, you don't understand, it's not real," Dawn waved her hand, trying to indicate herself, knowing it was pointless. He wouldn't get it. "None of this, they made it. I'm nothing. I'm just a thing the monks made so Glory couldn't find me,"

Dawn saw Ben shoot out of his chair at that, eyes wide, looking at her in an entirely different way.

"You're the Key," he said.

Dawn's anger and frustration evaporated as she recognized the fear in Ben's eyes. How could he know about the Key?

"Go!" Ben said, shifting his weight from foot to foot, like he wanted to run away himself. "Before she finds you. Don't ask me how she knows but she always knows, just go!"

"Wait, calm down," Dawn started, if Ben knew something about the Key, or even Glory, Dawn had to get him to talk. "You just n-"

"You don't understand, you're a kid," Ben was shaking now as he spoke, sweat beading on his forehead, but his eyes were fixed on Dawn. "You stay, she'll find you. She finds you, she'll hurt you!"

Dawn stood up, concerned for Ben now as he had been for her moments ago. "What's wrong with you?"

"You're what she's been searching for, I am telling you to run! You don't know, you-" Ben cut himself off, looking over his shoulders frantically. His fingers twitched. "Oh no. God, no. She's coming. I can feel it. You have to get out of here!"

"She's here!"

Glory awoke looking into the face of a gorgeous human child. Child/woman. One of those humans right on the line between tragic child victim and regular old victim. What was the word?

Teenager. Benny had been holding a beautiful teenage girl human when Glory took her body back from her walking prison of a brother.

Glory took a breath, centering herself. The transitions were always confusing, but she had never walked in on him mid snog before. And in the hospital changing room no less. How deliciously reckless. It might be the most exciting thing Boring Benjamin had ever done.

She had to admit, there was something about the girl though. Full lips, big doe eyes almost as blue as her own, lots there to love when you got right down to it. On top of that, there was a concrete sense of familiarity about the girl. Beyond how lovely she was, Glory knew she had encountered this being before.

"Hey don't I know you?" She asked.

"I'm Dawn," The little voice quivered, sending more than the usual thrill down Glory's spine. The name meant nothing to her. She waited, expecting the kid to understand that she needed to do more to explain how they knew one another. "I'm Buffy's sister,"

That was it! The lovely little sister of that meager Vampire Slayer. "Right, right, I remember now. You look good kiddo," Glory stretched and walked over to Ben's locker, the absurd scrubs he had to wear scratching at her indestructible skin as she did. "You don't look sick at all,"

"Huh?" Dawn asked. Glory gave her a pass. Like any mortal, the kid was terrified to be in her presence, correctly fearing for her life. Glory was used to it.

"You're in a hospital," Glory pointed out as she tore Ben's lock off of his locker. She found the idea of locks offensive.

"Oh, right," Dawn mumbled.

It was supposed to have been a joke. Deep down Glory knew it wasn't a very good joke, but at the same time she knew that she was perfect and therefore it was the funniest joke ever told in this wretched dimension. It was a paradox, but Glory supposed that godhood was paradoxical.

She pulled Ben's scrubs over her head with a relieved sigh. "Ugh, cotton! Could a fabric be more annoyingly pedestrian?" Out of the locker came her new dress. A luscious, blood red, backless, sleeveless, silk bodycon number that her minions had just made, or stolen, or whatever. "Now this is what I'm talking about," The human's got some things right. In her home dimension, in her glory-days, it had been nothing but energy-crackling armour and stolen, repurposed chitin. These human garments, however, "Makes your skin sing,"

"You're . . . you're Ben," Little Dawny was, ever so slowly it seemed, putting the pieces together.

"Well it's an incy more complicated than that," Glory replied. "Family always is, isn't it?" Glory was impressed that she hadn't already forgotten about the connection between her and Ben. She heard Dawn's clothing rustle and sensed the girl looking around for an escape route.

"You'd never make it," she advised her. "I'd rip out your spine before you got half a step," Glory started feeling mischievous. "And those little legs? They wouldn't be much good without a spine," Glory took a breath and fired herself across the room at about half of her full speed, far too fast for the human eye to track. Leaning in close to Dawn as the girl jumped in fright, she continued, "Would they, Dawny? Now what I'd like to know is, what in the world was the Slayer's little sis doing here with Gentle Ben?"

"You don't remember," Dawn said, almost to herself.

"Remember what?" Glory was getting a little tired of waiting for the kid to catch up, but overall she had to admit that she didn't really mind. She brushed some of Dawn's hair off of her shoulders. Her hair, Glory decided, was not Dawn's best feature. Straight and somewhat lank, and almost the same color as that of her minions.

"You were talking to Ben, not me," that face of hers, though. Glory leaned in even closer to her. This girl was electrifying. Glory had often wished she could experience the awe that she inspired in mortals. It seemed unfair that she was forever denied the pleasure of being in her own presence. Something about this little human Slayerette made that feel more bearable.

Glory surprised herself by reaching out and cupping Dawn's chin in her hand. When was the last time she had touched a mortal who she wasn't going to kill or suck their brains out? Not counting the minions, who knew?

"He wasn't being naughty, was he?" Glory pouted her lips teasingly, actually hoping to get a smile, or even a laugh, out of Dawn.

Frustratingly, just then they were interrupted. A tall, doughy human toddled in, saying something unimportant. People were always questioning her when she and Ben traded places. Who are you, Lady? What are you doing here? It was the worst. Even when she was clearly in the middle of something.

Glory turned around and twisted the human's head 180 degrees. Death was instantaneous, since she didn't want to disturb Dawn with too much gore and screaming.

"Rude. We were talking," Glory said. She looked at dawn,really focusing on her pulse, pupil dilation, respiration, perspiration, and chakra alignment. The poor girl was as petrified as a rabbit at a dog show. She needed to do something to encourage her to participate in their conversation if she was going to learn anything about Ben, the Slayer, or her Key.

Glory guided Dawn up from her chair. "Let's you and me find a nice place off the beaten path where we can have a long uninterrupted chat,"

Dawn followed as Glory pulled her into the hallway and guided them deeper into the hospital, blood chilling fear warring with a kind of exhilaration at being in Glory's presence. She was the Key, after all. Glory's Key. She had to wonder if being guided, carried along by this woman was closer to her natural state than the life she had known. The life that she had believed, until a few hours ago, to be all there was to herself.

She had a million questions for Glory, but no idea how to get Glory to open up to her without giving herself away. There was no telling what her intentions were with the Key once she found it, or how becoming a human might have complicated things. More pressingly, as long as Glory was in the dark about her change in embodiment, Dawn knew she was in danger.

She had been starting to wonder if her fear of Glory was just something that the Monks gave her as an additional barrier to their reunion when Glory had laid that doubt to rest by casually killing a man in right front of her. Glory was dangerous. Buffy had told the truth about that at least.

Buffy. Again Dawn felt the stab of pain at her so-called sister's cold dismissal. At her lies. If she couldn't trust Buffy, or her mother, or Giles, or anybody she thought she knew, and she wasn't safe with Glory, and all the Monks were dead, where could she turn?

Glory was moving them with apparent purpose. She seemed to have a familiarity with the hospital, though Dawn couldn't remember why that might be. How had Glory found her? It was becoming difficult to remember.

"You hang around the hospital a lot?" Glory asked. "Sneaking around with Big Ben between his shifts or something?"

Ew. Ben was old enough to date Buffy. Just because she could appreciate that he was attractive didn't mean she was about to hook up with a guy old enough to have a medical degree. Even if she was much, much older than him in reality.

"It's not like that," she said, frustrated to hear the lingering fear in her own voice. "Ben is just a nice guy, he found me-"

"OK, enough small talk," Glory interrupted her as they entered an empty x-ray laboratory. "I'm in a bit of a crunch here, so let's cut right to the ooey gooey center. Your sister, the Slayer, has my Key. It's mine, I want it,"

Dawn had to suppress her involuntary flash of joy at the sight of the smile that passed over Glory's face as she continued. "Do you know where she squirreled it away? There's ice cream and puppy dogs in it for you if you start singing,"

Dawn had to weigh her response carefully. Part of her wanted to grab the perfect skin of Glory's exquisite shoulders and beg her to tell her everything she knew about her precious Key, but she was afraid of the awkwardness and, death, that would probably follow.

"Well, I'm not sure," she began slowly. "What does it look like?"

Glory closed her eyes, her face a mask of wistfulness. She clasped her hands together under her chin, a painting of happy reverie. Dawn's eyes followed her as she paced slowly around the room in front of her, lost in a memory of a time with her Key.

"Well, the last time I caught a peep, it was a bright green swirlie shimmer. Really brought out the blue in my eyes. Then those sneaky little monks pulled an abrakadabra so now it could look like anything. You see the predicament I'm in?"

Glory turned and walked back up to her little human helper, the girls eyes cast downward in thought. Glory really missed having the ability to read minds in that moment. Having to talk information out of people was exhausting. She watched little Dawny's face, trying to look past the skin as she had once been able to do so effortlessly.

"Well, maybe," Dawn began, haltingly. Glory waited for her to go on as long as she could.

" . . .yes," Glory encouraged her.

Now Dawn looked directly into Glory's eyes. Glory was taken aback by the sudden boldness. The girl focussed on her, unblinkingly. "Maybe, if you told me more about it, I could tell you if I've seen it,"

Dawn had held her gaze the whole time. Glory was strangely aware of how close they were to each other. Was this little human welp . . . _flirting_ with her?

Props to the little Summers sister. Humans were usually unable to try anything around her. A combination of their natural clumsiness about their courtships and her own intimidating perfection.

Glory leaned in, propping her hands against the table behind Dawn. She looked Dawn up and down, the girl's own gaze following hers. Glory flicked her eyebrows up once to get Dawn's attention back.

"Ok,"

An awkward silence followed. Glory leaned back, giving Dawn some space. She didn't want to intimidate her.

That was a pretty shocking realization, once Glory came to it. Why in the world should she care about whether this meaningless human mortal was comfortable or not? Mortals are supposed to be intimidated and afraid in her presence.

Dawn had moved away from her while Glory was distracted by her own thoughts, "So what do you need this key for, anyway?" The girl asked.

"It's mine. I want it back," Glory answered simply. The girl was standing near the wall at the opposite end of the room, in front of a wall of X-rays. Surrounded by broken bones, stripped of their flesh.

"Did you make it?"

That was a frustratingly astute question. Glory came around the island desk between them, moving slowly, keeping her gaze locked on the girl. Dawn crossed her arms in front of her chest. A defensive posture. Glory was genuinely unsure about how she felt about that.

Normally the idea of one of these mortals lusting after her was repulsive. Gods don't philander the way mortals do. She didn't need offspring to create a legacy, Glory was eternal. Nevertheless, when she had noticed the intensity in Dawn's gaze moments ago, Glory had felt . . . excited.

"No, I didn't make it," Glory hated to admit it. "It came to me long ago, I killed a guy who had it, who was trying to play sneakthief in my abattoir. Thought he could use it to rob the divine. Some folk have no class at all, you know? Anyway it's been mine ever since," Glory hadn't spared a thought for Tumblre, the sneakthief, in several mortal lifetimes. When she came back into her godhood she resolved to retrieve his spirit from its torment and thank him. And then send him back to the torment.

Glory raised herself up and sat on the desk. Dawn was thinking so hard Glory imagined steam was about to come whistling out of her ears.

"So, this key thing, it's been around a long time?"

"Well, not as long as me, but yeah. Just this side of forever,"

Dawn hesitated, afraid to ask her next question. Such a simple question, but potentially everything was riding on it.

"Is it evil?"

"Totally," Glory replied with a smirk.

Dawn felt her heart turn to ice in her chest. Buffy was going to kill her.

"Well, no, not really," Glory continued with a laugh. "I guess it depends on your point of view," Glory knew that the truth was that, on its own, the Key was no more evil than a knife in a cupboard. In Glory's hands, though, the Key could really make a difference in the world.

"What's it for?" Dawn went on. "I mean, if it's a key there's got to be a lock, right?"

"Yes," Glory answered slowly. "We have a winner,"

"So what is it for? What does it open?"

Glory exhaled in disappointment. "I smell a fox in my henhouse. Is that why you've been playing sugar and spice with Uncle Ben? Trying to get a peek at Glory's unmentionables? No, I kind of want to hear me talking right now! You know what I'm starting to think? I'm starting to think that you don't have any idea where my Key is,"

Glory realized that, in her annoyance at Dawn's transparent attempt to manipulate her, Glory had crossed the room and was inches away from the girl with a finger stuck accusingly in her face. The poor little bird was trembling with fear. Glory turned away from her again to collect herself, only to shudder as the room spun nauseatingly around her.

Ugh.

Now was not the time for this! She stalked over to the desk again and braced herself against it. When was the last time she had fed? The familiar disorientation and discomfort pressing in as it always did. "Very irritating, irrational, you know what I mean, tiny snapdragon? Like, like bugs under my skin. You know, I'm not feeling so . . ."

"What's wrong with you?" Dawn asked.

Glory rose again, buoyed by a sudden thought. She needed neural energies to sustain herself in this dimension, and Dawn had brought some neural energies with her for their little pow-wow. How thoughtful of her. She turned and approached Dawn again.

"Hey, this doesn't have to be a complete waste of my precious time. I've been meaning to send the slayer a message," Glory trailed off, looking at Dawn huddled against the wall, the thought of draining the whelp became unbearable. This world was full of humans she could get her pick-me-up from, no need to waste little Dawny. "You're coming with me. We'll go get a quick bite, then it's girl time. You're not going to approve of my diet, I can just tell. If the slayer wants you back when we're done, maybe we can make a deal,"

Of course at that moment the doors to the little room burst open and the place was suddenly crawling with humans, including the slayer herself!

"Get away from my sister," the nasal voice of the slayer demanded.

"We're going out for lunch. You can't come, Buffy, it's cool girls only,"

"Lunch is canceled, Hell-bitch,"

Glory waited patiently as Buffy crossed the space between them to punch her. Even allowed the blow to land, after all, what harm could it do. Then she noticed Dawn dart past them to the protection of the other humans. That was disappointing. Glory hurled the slayer into a wall when a pair of arms wrapped around her from behind. Then the slayer was on her feet again and punching Glory in the face. Good for her, Glory thought.

"I thought you said this skank was tough!" the man who was holding her called out to Buffy.

Well that couldn't be allowed to stand. Glory slammed her fist into the slayer's scrunched little face, sending her to the floor. Then she powered out of the arms holding her and sent the vampire - vampire? Working with the slayer? - to the ground with a headbutt.

"If he wakes up, tell your boyfriend to watch his mouth,"

"He is _not_ my boyfriend!"

The slayer, apparently energized by the suggestion that she was boning a vampire, attacked with renewed urgency. Glory respected the fact that even though she could sense that she had bothered Buffy with her comment, the slayer's attacks lost none of their form or precision.

Not that it mattered. Glory eventually laid her opponent out with a kick.

"Giles, now!" the slayer called out from the floor.

Absurdly, this prompted an older male human to step up, armed with an honest-to-goodness crossbow! The old man squeezed the trigger on his archaic weapon, causing a bolt to fly into Glory's stomach and, obviously, bounce off harmlessly.

"Is that a joke?" Glory asked, just before something rigid collided with the the top of her head. That made her cry out in genuine alarm. She whirled around to see another male human, holding a crowbar. In that instant the poor young man had such an embarrassed look on his face at being caught Glory almost laughed. Instead, she grabbed him by the throat. "Watch the hair," she advised him before hurling him, with one arm, across the room and into the old man.

"Time to start the dying," Glory called out. She was certainly going to kill one of these humans, and brain-drain another. That should get the slayer into the right state of mind. If Buffy didn't give up the Key on the spot, she also still had the option of kidnapping Dawn. This was really turning out to be a good day. "Let's start with the old man,"

As Glory advanced, however, a rain of glitter fell from above and coated her head and shoulders. Only then did she notice that two women had been standing on either side of her, chanting. Her outrage was overwhelming. "Look what you did to my dress! You little-"

The woman to Glory's left interrupted her with a loud clap of her hands. "Discade!" The redhead called out, and Glory vanished.

Dawn looked up from the gurney she was hiding behind, as her friends and family sprung into action, checking each other for serious injuries. Buffy was suddenly in front of her, pulling her into a hug.

"Dawn,you're ok?" she asked. Dawn nodded. "What did you do to her?" she asked Willow and Tara.

"Teleportation spell," Willow said between deep breaths. "Still working out the kinks,"

"Where did you send her?"

"Don't know. That's one of the kinks,"

"That's an incredibly dangerous spell for an adept at your level," Giles' warm, familiar disapproval was a comfort to everyone.

"Yeah," Willow confirmed as Tara and Giles lifted her back to a sitting posture. "Won't be trying that one again anytime soon,"

"Dawn, you sure you're ok?" Buffy asked again.

Dawn frowned, both relieved and saddened that Glory had been driven off, but mostly still bitter that Buffy had rushed in and saved her again, especially after the things she had said.

"What do you care?" She asked.

"Dawn, I love you," Buffy said. "You're my sister,"

"No, I'm not," Dawn tried to put conviction in her voice.

"Yes you are," Buffy took Dawn's hand in hers, and gestured to the cuts on Dawn's forearm. "This is Summers blood, it's just like mine," for emphasis Buffy placed Dawn's hand against her chest, letting her feel her heartbeat. "It doesn't matter how you got here. You are my sister. There's no way you could annoy me so much if you weren't,"

Dawn tried to collect herself, but everything was too overwhelming. She didn't want to be a cosmic ball of energy. She didn't want to have some emotional connection to an evil god that she didn't choose and couldn't control. She just wanted to be Dawn Summers, normal girl.

Dawn threw herself back into Buffy's arms, holding her as tight as she could. The nice thing about her sister being the stupid slayer was that she could hug as hard as she wanted and Buffy would never complain.

"I'm so scared," she whispered to her big sis.

"Me too," Buffy admitted. "Come on, let's go home,"

Dawn rose with her sister. Part of her wanted to confess to Buffy that there was something about Glory that entranced her. She felt their connection. Dawn knew that no one else had reacted to her the same way she had.

What's more, she was beginning to suspect that Glory sensed that there was something between them as well. If that was the case, and Glory took a more than passing interest in her, how long could Dawn keep her big secret? How long until Glory realized she was the key?


	3. The Long Night

The Long Night, S5 Ep17

Glory looked down at the limp and beaten body of the platinum-haired vampire at her feet. The same man who had helped Buffy fight her at the hospital. Evidently he had also been stalking Dawn through the graveyard. Or possibly watching over her. This vamp was an odd one after all. She wondered if he would regain consciousness before sunrise.

Dawn seemed unaware of the short but spirited fight that had taken place between them, which was understandable. She was, after all, collecting earth from her own mother's grave, seemingly in preparation for a magic ritual. Glory supposed that would be a pretty distracting activity.

Glory focused on the tome at Dawn's side. Bynum's History of Witchcraft. The gateway drug of the magical community. Glory was no stranger to magic. Depending on what other materials Dawn had on hand she might be preparing to raise her own mother as a zombie, curse her from beyond the grave, bind her to her side as a spectral servant, order her to harass their enemies' nightmares, or even command her mother's shade to possess an animal. Or who knows what else. The list goes on, as they say. It's magic, after all.

Glory watched Dawn scooping up more dirt, pleased that the girl was being so industrious. Grief has a way of unravelling mortals, but here was Dawn, plotting some sinister ritual to rebel against the unkind fate that had been dealt her. Glory was almost proud of her.

Unable to restrain herself any longer, Glory sauntered up to the grave as if she was showing up for an appointment to get her nails done.

"Hello, Dawn,"

Dawn's head spun around, and she froze like a deer in headlights at the sight of Glory standing over her.

"Stand up, kiddo, I'm not about to sit in the dirt and ruin my dress,"

Dawn rose to her feet, afraid if she moved too quickly she would be sick. If Glory thought she could make things worse, she was mistaken. This was already the worst day of her life. Why hadn't she expected fate to pile on? If there was one constant in Dawn's life, it was the truism that if things could get worse, they would.

Glory slowly reached out and put a hand on Dawn's shoulder.

"I heard about your mother, Dawny. I'm sorry,"

The words were shocking, as was the gentle, reassuring tone of Glory's voice. Dawn couldn't think of anything to say, it was too absurd. She waited numbly for the other shoe to drop.

It didn't. Glory simply looked at her for a long moment, no mockery in her eyes, no threat in her posture, just a quiet, patient support in her presence.

"How did you know about . . ." Dawn's voice trailed off, unable to finish her question.

"You think I haven't been keeping tabs?" Glory answered with a small smile. "I have to say I'm impressed. I'll bet big sis doesn't even know you're here, does she? Great, better and better. I'll tell you what, little witch, put me in the loop of your secret arcane plans and maaaaybe, just maybe, aunty Glory will help you out,"

"Seriously? Why?" for the first time, Dawn doubted her plan. If Glory knew what she was up to and actually wanted to help, something had to be wrong. "You're evil," Dawn added, before she could help herself.

"True," Glory didn't seem to take it as an insult. "But like I said, I'm impressed. Most mortals lose someone and it's an immediate trip to boo-hoo-ville, you know what I mean? Not you though. Same day they put her in the ground you're out here making the most of it. Spell book in hand, mystical intentions broadcast to the world. I like a good spell myself now and then. Nothing like messing with the natural order of things to get the blood flowing! So what is the plan Dawny?"

Dawn hesitated. Was she really going to enlist the help of Glory? It seemed insane, suicidal even, but then again, Glory did know a thing or two about magic, she had created the snake monster to hunt her down, and besides, even a fallen god must have some pull in the supernatural community.

"It's just . . . I have to get her back," Dawn wasn't sure how to even explain what she intended, and just touching on it like this was filling her eyes with tears. Unable to speak, she quickly opened her borrowed spellbook to the resurrection ritual and handed it to Glory.

Glory looked at the spell on the page in disbelief. Dawn was about to get herself killed. She didn't even know about the Ghora yet. Glory knew a specialist, but that was beside the point.

"Dawn," Glory set the book down on a nearby headstone and closed it. "You are not doing this,"

"What? You just said you would help me!" Dawn flung the words at Glory.

"Listen to me, Dawny," Glory began, generously ignoring Dawn's tone. "Spells like this, they never work. Not sometimes, not once in a blue moon, not ever, never. Gods of the underworld don't just let people take souls back. Believe me,"

"I don't believe you!" Dawn cried out, tears burning down her cheeks. Her lungs felt like they just shrank in her chest, and she sobbed. Dawn fell to her knees, only to feel Glory wrap her strong arms around her. "You're evil, and you're a liar! You don't want me to do it because you know it'll work, you evil bitch,"

Glory held Dawn close, quite astonished with herself. She had never, in her long existence, ever been moved by the grief of another being before, but seeing Dawn finally fall apart had rent something inside of Glory in a way that she hadn't known was possible. It was a bad sign, Glory thought. She couldn't afford to let people's grief disturb her, it would seriously ruin her whole godly business model, so to speak.

Another part of Glory realized that what Dawn was going through was unique. Dawn would never feel pain like this again, because no one would love her quite the same way that her mother had. No one could. Glory also understood in that moment that she would never feel what Dawn was feeling, because no one had ever truly loved her at all.

"Dawn, stop," Glory commanded as gently as she could. The girl continued to sob into her chest as Glory held her. The accusations continued to come from her as well, but softer now, like a tide receding.

"What if you became a god again?" the tiny voice asked. "Could you give her back to me?"

 _Lie to her_ , came the instinctive reaction. _Tell her what she wants to hear, and she will be yours_.

"I am a god," Glory said. "But to answer your real question, if I was restored to my full powers, then . . . no. I couldn't bring her back. I was never big with the whole death mojo, and before you go thinking any crazy thoughts, no other gods would bring her back either. Graveyard gods are possessive, and they have long memories. Death is a one way street, anyone who goes against traffic pays for it sooner rather than later,"

Dawn wrapped her arms around Glory and let herself be held in return, letting the moment last as long as it could.

"I miss my mom," she said after a while. The words seemed so insufficient.

Glory sat with Dawn, on the grass and loose dirt, ruining her dress despite herself, willing to stay there as long as she was needed. When a different thought occurred to her, Glory reached past Dawn with one hand to retrieve the book of spells. After flipping through a few pages, she found what she was looking for.

"I know something else we can do, tiny snapdragon,"


	4. Giving Form to Utterance

Giving Form to Utterance, S5 Ep 17

Dawn looked over the sacred circle that they had drawn around her mother's grave with some discomfort. She knew enough about magic to understand that the circle itself was not a desecration, but Glory's involvement made her second guess her decision to go along with this at every moment.

"Trust me, sweetie," Glory said, as though she sensed Dawn's hesitation, "you won't regret this. Mommy dearest may not say what you expect, but at least this way you can have some closure. It's more than most ever get,"

Dawn didn't know what to say. Glory couldn't comfort her, the lack of trust between them was the reason for her unease. They had gone over the ritual together in great detail. How to activate the magic, what to expect, how long it would last. At its core what they were doing was not much more than a run-of-the-mill seance.

But most seances did not involve the participation of an evil god.

Glory was an X factor, no way around it. Evil exists in this world, and Glory was it. She didn't even dispute the fact herself. Glory flaunted her nature as much as any vamp. Dawn felt like a mouse setting her own trap.

But if this was a trap, it was perfectly baited. Glory had offered Dawn a chance to speak to her mother one last time. Dawn knew she couldn't do the ritual alone, she wasn't strong enough. If Glory helped her there was no reason that the spell wouldn't work. They could do it. She could speak to her mother again. To tell her she loved her and say goodbye. To apologize for not being real.

Glory placed a bowl at the center of the circle, on the fresh earth of the grave, and filled it with the food they had scrounged up. Twinkies and gummie worms from a nearby convenience store that happened to still be open. Sustenance for the spirit. Then she lit the candles at the edge of the circle, and Dawn drew the photograph of her mother out of her backpack.

It was really happening. Had already begun in fact with the lighting of the candles. Glory took her place behind the headstone, Dawn stood across from her.

Glory locked eyes with Dawn and, with a wink to the girl, raised her arms and began chanting.

"Shade of life, the blood of your blood calls out to you! Commune with us and walk amongst us!"

Light rose from the candles like a liquid and hovered above the grave, a circle of illumination mirroring the sacred circle they had drawn on the ground.

"Dearest spirit, be guided by the light of this world, visit us and be nourished by the love of your family,"

A cloud of light formed, suspended in the air at the center of the circle. Dawn looked into the light and saw shapes moving within, swirling and flowing like milk in water.

"Beloved Joyce, the grief of you daughter anchors you to this place, speak with her so that you both may be free!"

A silhouette of white energy appeared within the circle, floating just above the ground. It regarded Glory first, who, being finished with her chanting, looked defiantly upon the newcomer and grinned.

The apparition turned, and Dawn watched as her mother's features came into focus on it's face.

"Mom?"

"Don't break the circle!" Glory cried out. Dawn realized that she was in fact about to rush toward the spirit and through the floating circle of light.

"Sweetheart, I'm here," the spirit said in her mother's voice.

"Is it really you?"

The spirit reached across the circle to touch Dawn's cheek. There was no pressure, but Dawn felt the contact like a warm ray of sunshine on her face.

"Of course it's me, my little pumpkin belly. You called me here yourself, can't you feel my love for you?"

"Mommy," Dawn felt her eyes well up with more tears. She didn't know what to say. "What am I going to do?"

"You're going to live, sweetheart,"

"How? You died and now there is this hole in everything and nothing makes sense, nothing matters, and I'm not even real," Dawn spoke between sobs, tears streaming down her face. "I'm so sorry Mommy. I can't go on like this. I can't just keep doing things all day when none of it matters and I don't care about any of it," Dawn wasn't sure if she was making sense anymore, but that was just one of those things she no longer cared about.

"Dawn, listen to me," her mother spoke softly, yet her voice was more clear to Dawn than her own thoughts. "This is the hard part. This is the _hardest_ it will be. After this, believe it or not, it will get better and you will start putting it all back together. I know you will, because I know how strong you are. I love you and I believe in you Dawn, and I will always be with you,"

Joyce Summers felt her daughter absorb her words like physical nourishment. She watched and saw the cold embers of Dawn's spirit kindle into new flame. It was small, and delicate, for the moment, but Joyce also saw that it would flourish in time. Her own spirit swelled with pride at the knowledge of the strength and goodness of her two wonderful daughters.

In life Joyce never really believed that she was defined by her role as a mother. Not entirely. She was a sister, a business woman, a student, an art patron, a wife, a friend, and a million other things to the world before she became a mother, but now everything else that she had been was lost to the past, and Joyce understood with her life in retrospect that her greatest contributions were in fact her children. She had never felt such pride.

Joyce turned away from Dawn and looked upon Glorificus once again. With her non-physical senses she saw her as the universe itself must see her; a mass of writhing jagged red energy trapped in a shell of meat. There was something softer near her core, fighting its way toward the surface, but whatever it was it was small and it was fighting against a current much stronger than it could hope to overcome.

"You," Joyce addressed the Beast.

"Me," the Beast responded with a disarming smile.

"Stay the hell away from my family!"

All of the energy of the ritual was suddenly syphoned through the spirit of Dawn's mother and released in a blast aimed directly at Glory's face.

Before Dawn could blink, the spell had been broken and Glory was lying in a motionless heap ten feet away. The cemetery had become impossibly quiet again.

"Glory?" Dawn called out softly, "You ok?"

When no reply came, Dawn slipped the photograph of her mother back into her backpack and crept over to where Glory lay on the ground.

The change in Glory was overwhelming. Her skin had turned a jaundiced yellow, and she was covered in sweat. Her lips were cracked and dry, her hair was stuck to her head like a pile of wet leaves, but her eyes were the most frightening. Glory's eyes, normally vibrant and full of life and as blue as the ocean, had been drained of almost all their color. Glory's faded, dull eyes scanned the space around her, unblinking and unseeing.

"Glory!" Dawn cried out involuntarily and knelt next to her, gently squeezing her shoulders. Her skin was cold and clammy, like and old cadaver. "What's wrong? What happened?"

Glory's mouth opened, revealing a swollen tongue, and she gasped for air. Dawn lifted the goddess's' head and cradled her as best she could. Some part of Dawn knew that this was supposed to be her chance to run away, that her mother had used all the strength she had to incapacitate Glory so that Dawn could escape right then, but Dawn wasn't going anywhere.

Seeing Glory in this state was unbearable. Dawn wasn't about the lose anyone else today. Not after Glory had actually kept her word and put Dawn in contact with her mother. And look at the price she had paid for helping Dawn. "How do I help you Glory, what do I do? Glory? How can I help you?"

Glory rasped a reply, or at least it seemed like she was trying to reply, but Dawn couldn't understand her. She felt Glory's hands find hers, felt her grip travel up her arms to her neck, then her face.

She felt Glory's fingertips brush against her temples.


	5. Friends in Dark Places

Friends in Dark Places S5 Ep17

Glory was trapped in the dark place. Naked and ashamed. It always happened when she went too long without feeding. Sometimes it happened when Ben took over their body against her will.

She knew that the ghost had trapped her here this time, had used the energy of her spell against her, but it didn't seem to matter any more. She was stuck here again, and it sure felt permanent.

That's what she gets for trying to help.

 _What were you thinking?_ She scolded herself. _Trying to help a mortal? This is what you deserve._

"This is what you deserved anyway," Glory spun around, searching the darkness, was that a thought or a voice?

 _You're as stupid as everyone says,_ a voice called out. Her own? Glory heard a clacking sound coming from somewhere, like a huge insect skittering through the dark.

"You lost the war, you lost the Key," _Now you've lost your mind._

"Shut up!" Glory yelled, clamping her hands over her ears. "I'm not stupid, I'm a god!"

"Look at her," pity dripping from every word.

 _A failure in every dimension I violate._

"Can't even beat a Vampire Slayer,"

Glory's stomach lurched as the ground vanished from beneath her feet. She fell through the darkness, wind whistling in her ears mixing with the laughter of the voices she heard. They wanted to hear her cry out, they wanted her to feel anguish and misery and fear and shame. She wouldn't give them the satisfaction. She would not scream.

Then she felt a bug crawling along her back, its segmented body impossibly long, its dozens of legs pinching her one by one as it moved over her body.

She screamed.

Her scream seemed to awaken more bugs in the dark. They swarmed her as she cried out, still falling through the void, actual fear gripping her heart. She felt the bugs on every inch of her, crawling, biting, itching, burning.

Glory screamed again, kept screaming even as her voice turned raw and her throat burned, and screamed even louder when the bugs got into her mouth.

She was ashamed of herself.

Glory knew was here because she was weak. Weak and worthless, and a failure. The voices in the dark knew this as well. One day her minions would come to understand the depth of her failures, and they would leave her to serve a real god.

Some god she was. She couldn't even stop bugs from crawling on her. She couldn't even stop herself from crying out, like a frightened mortal. Half of the last twenty five years of her existence had been spent being suppressed by Benjamin. Ben, who was nothing at all, was too strong for her half the time.

No longer falling, Glory curled up in the dark, hugging her legs. Glory, the eternal, immortal Abomination, The Beast, Hell God of slaughter, destruction and chaos, buried her face in her knees and wept.

 _Glory?_ a voice called out, not her own, but not like the others.

" _Glory? How do I help you?"_ it was Dawn!

Glory opened her eyes and saw Dawn kneeling over her. Dawn appeared hazy, like a film out of focus, somewhat spectral, wavering. She was with her, or her body, on the other side of the dark place.

Glory also saw energy spinning and cascading behind Dawn's eyes, the energies that bound her mind, like those of all mortals, into a cohesive whole.

By reflex, her hands reached up and she grabbed Dawn's lovely face. She could feed on Dawn and free herself right now, escape from the dark place on a Dawn Summers lifeline.

Yet Glory hesitated. Even now, she didn't want to hurt the girl. Not even to free herself from this torment. Instead she drew herself up, as close to Dawn's insubstantial face as possible.

"Go get help!" Glory yelled, putting as much force into the command as she could. It was hard to communicate from the dark place to the outside. "Bring help to me!"

Dawn's spectral visage disappeared, and Glory was alone again. She had no way of knowing if Dawn had heard her, and even if she had, the girl might not have understood. All she had to do was bring her another human, any human, and she could pull herself out.

Did Dawn know about Glory's need to feed? To drink the neural energy of humans to keep herself coherent and free? Almost certainly not. It didn't matter, any human would do in a pinch. An EMT, a cop, a dog walker, a bike messenger, whatever. Dawn just had to bring her a person.

She did just that. Glory saw a male face appear before her, saw the delicious energy pattern behind the eyes, and this time she didn't hesitate. Glory shoved her fingers into that face with an urgency that bordered on recklessness, and shuddered to feel the light and warmth exploding from inside his pitiful human pea-brain and flowing into herself.

Glory came to in the cemetery again and sat up with a moan. Dawn was staring at her.

"That's amazing," Dawn said with obvious relief. "You look so much better,"

Glory could only imagine what she had looked like after that ghost had hit her with that . . . whatever. She wasn't too happy to think that Dawn had seen her in that state.

"Dawn, your mother is the worst,"


	6. Most, Highest, Her

Most, Highest, Her S5 Ep17

Dawn's heart finally resumed beating as Glory lifted herself up off the ground, her incredible transformation back to health and vigor complete.

Then the man she had brought to help Glory sat up, looking as ill as Glory had a moment ago. Dawn had rushed back to the 24 hour convenience store to get his help, and now the poor old man was a wreck.

"Cats!" he declared. "A cat did it. Only, I thought I was the cat. Now I, now I-I don't see . . ." he trailed off.

A crazy person. Glory had stuck her hands in his head and turned him into a crazy person. Dawn remembered overhearing Buffy and Willow talking about Glory being a "brain-sucker" but no one had bothered to let her in on what that meant. Now she had practically fed an innocent person to Glory.

"What have I done?" Dawn said. Even more frightening than the realization of what she had done was the certainty that she would do it again, if she had to. She didn't even feel any guilt, not really. She had just lost her mother, she would not lose anyone else she cared about. Including Glory.

The old man turned and looked at Dawn, wide-eyed.

"So beautiful," Dawn remembered suddenly that the crazies could see her for what she was! This poor man was going to expose her to Glory. Dawn supposed it was fair enough, karmically speaking. "It's so beautiful, so pure, such pretty-"

"I know she's beautiful, now hit the road you disgusting worm," Glory interrupted their victim and roughly shoved him toward the exit of the cemetery. "Don't mind him, sweetheart. He doesn't matter,"

"You think I'm beautiful?" Dawn gazed up at Glory, spellbound.

"After what you just did?" Glory took Dawn by the shoulders and pulled her into a hug. Dawn's heart hammered in her chest like it was trying to burst out of her to get closer to Glory. "You're the most beautiful minion I've ever had,"

Dawn truly didn't know what to say to that. She didn't like being called a minion at all, so she buried her face in Glory's voluminous golden tresses to distract herself. Her hair smelled like a bonfire.

"Let's get you home, babe," Glory said, gently breaking up their embrace.

This had officially been the longest night of Dawn's life. A part of her, the part that wasn't dizzy from having had Glory's undivided attention for so long, was indeed ready to get off this rollercoaster and go home.

"I live this way," Dawn turned toward her home, but Glory had her wrist in her hand and was starting to walk in the opposite direction.

"No, no, silly cherub. I didn't mean your home,"

Glory told herself that she was kidnapping the girl for purely self-serving, divine mandate related reasons. That she would keep her as long as it took to wring the location of her Key out of the slayer. That she would torture Dawn if necessary.

It was a lie. Glory knew it was a lie. As they rode home in her limo, chauffeured by a minion, Glory considered ordering a pizza for Dawn, renting a movie with Dawn, what will Dawn think of the mansion, would Dawn like the art, would Dawn like the decor?

The thoughts revolted and upset Glory. They were beneath her. Or they should be. Glory suspected that she was being magically influenced by the girl, which, if true, meant that her best course of action would be to pop her head like a pimple right then and there. But she would not do it. Of course she would not do it, because the thought of hurting Dawn sent a shiver through her with an emotion she had never felt outside of the dark place.

Dawn broke the awkward silence that had fallen into place with a fit of laughter. Her laughter had a musical quality to Glory's ear, like an angry battlecry on a stormy day.

"I figured it out," Dawn declared. "I have that condition, you know? Where people go crazy when they get kidnapped. Munchausen syndrome? I don't think that's it, but you know what I mean. Like _Beauty and the Beast_. It finally makes sense. I've been kidnapped so many times that I, like, fell for you and became obsessed with you preemptively,"

"I don't think that's it, Dawny," Glory said. Stockholm syndrome wouldn't explain why she also cared for Dawn. So much so that she was unable to even entertain the thought of killing her.

Dawn fell into another fit of laughter.

Glory was trying to remember something that had happened during the ritual. Dawn had said something to her mother, something that Glory thought was odd and important, but it was hard to remember now. The ghost had hit her with that bad-juju-blast and now the memory had gone all foggy.

Glory and Dawn entered the mansion's third-floor parlor via the main foyer elevator, and were greeted by the sight of a swarm of minions buzzing around the room.

Glory was livid at the sight of bloodstains on her carpet. Looked like she was going to get to pop someone's head after all.

"What is going on here? We are entertaining tonight," she gestured at Dawn, "and I do not appreciate this embarrassing mess-" Glory cut herself off as the minions parted before her, muttering obsequious praise and groveling as they did, revealing her minion Jinx, sitting in her favorite red armchair, bandages wrapped around what smelled like a fresh stomach wound.

"Oh, no, Jinxy!" Glory said. "Who did this, was it that slayer? I am going to pull her wings off!" Glory rushed to his side.

"It was Ben, oh sweet, divine one" poor Jinx groaned.

"Ben?" Glory couldn't believe what she had heard. How dare he? Ben didn't have the right to go around stabbing her minions. What was he, some kind of savage? Glory tore down a mirror from the wall over her fireplace and hurled it across the room. "That pointless, stupid lump!"

"The Key, he told me, mighty . . . blondest," Jinx reached out to his distressed god.

"He's usually way better at the toadying," Glory told Dawn in a tone that seemed like it was meant to be reassuring.

Dawn started inching back towards the elevator, though she was interested to learn that Ben and Glory had some kind of connection. How did Ben know about the Key anyway? Ben couldn't possibly know her secret.

"The Key?" Glory asked, some calm returning, "What about my Key?"

"He indicated that it was a person," Jinx went on between pained gasps, "most . . . highest you,"

Glory froze. She could feel Dawn's heart pounding from across the room, she could smell the cold sweat on the girl's forehead, she could hear the sudden clenching of her muscles. And she remembered at last what Dawn had said to her mother that had seemed so important.

"You died and now there is this hole in everything and nothing makes sense, nothing matters, and I'm not even real," she had said.

 _I'm not even real._

Their strange connection, her reluctance to harm the girl, her preoccupation with her, all suddenly made sense. The Key had been given human form.

Dawn was the Key.

"Dawn," Glory said, "is there something you want to tell me?"


	7. The Morning After

The Morning After S5 Ep18

An enormous table of breakfast goodies stretched before Dawn, but she had no appetite. Almost as soon as Glory had figured out her secret she had ordered her minions to take her to a guest room and keep her there. That had been many hours ago.

Sometime after sunrise (Glory didn't seem to have any clocks in her home) she had been escorted from the guest room to a cozy, magnificently appointed dining room. A minion had seated her with the air of a high-end server (albeit one wearing a ratty brown robe) and food had begun to arrive.

One after another the minions had carried in plates of golden brown belgian waffles drowning in syrup, fluffy scrambled eggs, thick slices of french toast with whipped butter slowly melting over them, strips of crispy bacon, fresh red grapefruit halves sprinkled with sugar, and one toasted bagel with a dollop of cream cheese.

The only minion whose name she knew, Jinx, had squeezed a whole pitcher of fresh orange juice for her as the others came and went.

Dawn was beginning to think that they would keep bringing her different breakfasts forever until she did something.

A lady minion who had previously brought in the french toast reemerged with a new plate with an ornate silver cover. She walked briskly up to Dawn and placed the plate before her, dramatically removing the cover to reveal a tiny orange kitten.

"A kitten?" Dawn was surprised enough to ask. "Why are you bringing me a kitten?"

"What do you eat?" the minion demanded, apparently exasperated. "Isn't this all human food? Yet you don't eat it!"

"I'm not hungry,"

"The gracious, golden Glorificus ordered us to make sure you had a good breakfast. You must eat!"

"I'm not hungry,"

"A wilful teenager. How refreshingly original,"

"Please," Dawn switched tactics, "you don't have to do this,"

"Do what?"

"I don't believe that Glory wants to hurt me. If you let me go, maybe she'd even-"

Dawn was cut off by laughter from the lady minion and Jinx, whom she had almost forgotten was still in the room.

"Let you go?" the woman said, "Her captivating delectableness would gouge my eyes out and use my screams to lull herself to sleep that night,"

"Why would you wish to go?" Jinx asked, "You just said you don't believe yourself to be in any danger, and, by merely existing, you have brought such joy to the the most ambrosial, beguiling Glory,"

It seemed Jinx had gotten his toadying groove back.

It didn't make Dawn feel any better. Glory may not want to hurt her, she had had plenty of opportunity after all, but if she needed to, in order to accomplish whatever her goal with the Key was, all bets were off. Glory was definitely not the squeamish type.

Dawn picked up the kitten and walked away from the table, into an adjacent room, which turned out to be the parlor from last night, the very room where her big secret had been spilled.

At least being kidnapped in a mansion is a step up from caves and crypts. Usually by now she would be tied up in a dark room waiting for Buffy to charge in, not wandering through a mansion, escorted by minions, admiring the decoration.

Glory's home was warm and inviting, a catalog of luxury with a taste that was almost but not quite modern. Plush red furniture rested everywhere on thick soft carpet, warmly colored walls generously adorned with art and artefacts. The far wall of the parlor was taken up entirely by a single enormous painting. The piece caught Dawn's eye and drew her to it.

Four women, nude, encircled each other in the painting, their heads tilted away from one another with a different unreadable expression on each face, somewhere between relaxation and suffering. The artist was clean and precise, and the painting had a nonchalant elegance that was somehow as provocative as the nudity.

"Tamara de Lampicka," Glory said, having approached Dawn while she was fully absorbed by the painting. "I'm glad you like it. If she were still alive, I would have let her do my portrait. I think she would have really got me, you know?"

"Glory," Dawn said, turning around. Glory was wearing a light blue dress embroidered with a pattern of silver roses. Her hair seemed a shade lighter than it had last night, and the scent of flowers drifted off of her. She was accompanied by the tallest minion Dawn had ever seen, who was wearing a relatively clean red robe.

"Questions later, babe," Glory said. "First, we have to confirm that you actually are my Key, as you so boldly claimed. You had better not be lying to me, it is a great sin to lie to a god,"

"I never actually said I was the Key," Dawn said.

"You didn't have to say it, you clearly wanted me to think you're the Key," actually, the opposite was true, but Dawn didn't think there was much point in saying so to Glory. Glory took the kitten from Dawn and passed the wiggling bundle to another minion, who scuttled away with it.

"Luckily, Tall Guy over here," Glory gestured to the tall minion in the red robe, "and I have been hitting the books all night and we've come up with a way to verify your Keydentity,"

At that point Tall Guy handed something to Glory, who turned away from Dawn and back again to dramatically reveal a knife, flourishing the blade in Dawn's face.

Dawn gasped at the blade's sudden appearance but recovered in a moment to laughed mirthlessly at it.

"You could be a little more terrified," Glory was somewhat put-off by Dawn's reaction. "I am suggesting that I intend to hurt you. Waving a knife in your face, wicked god over here . . ."

"Oh, well I was startled, and, you are scary," Dawn said, "it's just, you know, if you wanted to hurt me you wouldn't exactly need a knife,"

"Well that's the nicest compliment I've heard in a long time," Glory laughed, "and you've seen the way they talk to me around here,"

"Glory, what are you going to do with me?" Dawn asked.

"First things first," Glory reached out and took Dawn's hand in her own, gently pulling her closer. Then she raised her knife again. "The key to the Key is blood,"


	8. The Key to the Key

The Key to the Key S5 Ep18

Glory took her knife and, as carefully as possible, made a shallow cut on the end of Dawn's finger.

Dawn watched in amazement her hand was drawn up to Glory's mouth and her finger was placed between the goddess's ruby red lips. She felt Glory's tongue, warm and slippery, probe the cut.

Glory moaned blissfully. Normally she hated the taste of blood, all copper and bitterness, but Dawn's blood was nothing like your run-of-the-mill human juice. Dawn was like a jolt of pure adrenaline, with a familiar, sensational energy hidden just beneath the surface. Dawn tasted like a promise of revenge, and Glory thought she could almost hear the crackling hellfires of home.

"Oh my torment," Glory sighed. "Dawn, it _is_ you! You're the Key! Dawn is my Key!" Glory lifted the girl up and spun around the room, laughing until she thought she would collapse. She couldn't believe it was over. The Key was hers again, and it was just a matter of time before she was on her way home.

Glory came to a stop and put Dawn down on the end of an overstuffed crimson chaise lounge. She sat down at the opposite end, reclining against the back and resting her legs over Dawn's lap.

She absentmindedly threw the knife back to Tall Guy.

Dawn was suddenly very aware of how short Glory's dress was. The lacey blue garment ended halfway down Glory's thighs when she was standing up. Glory's graceful legs were showing a generous amount of flawless skin, and now they were stretched over Dawn's lap, casual as you please.

"I wish you could understand what this feels like for me," Glory said. "Imagine you have a favorite bracelet, or handbag or whatever, and you think someone has stolen it. Then you find it and it turns out, while you weren't looking, they turned your favorite thing in the world into a beautiful, adorable little puppy-dog,"

"I'm not a dog," Glory's words had hit close to home. "I'm not a bracelet, or a handbag, or whatever," Dawn stood up, bumping Glory's legs unceremoniously off the chaise lounge, and crossed the room.

Dawn had stood up and walked away from Glory. Worse, she had done it coldly. Well, petulantly might be more accurate, but still, Glory was stung.

"What are you going on about, Key?"

"Did you just call me 'Key'? My name is Dawn, I'm Dawn Summers. I'm not a thing, I'm Dawn!" Dawn could hear her voice breaking, could feel herself trembling, but she resolved not to let herself cry. Better to be angry. She was so sick of crying.

"Dawny, hey," Glory crossed the room and took Dawn by the shoulders. "I didn't mean anything by it. I'm trying to say that you're precious to me. I can see you're a person, and I'm happy you're a person. But you're also my Key, which is even better,"

"What am I?" Dawn finally asked. There was no point avoiding the real questions anymore. She could be direct. "What do I do? What am I for? What are you going to do with me?"

"You don't remember? You tried to play 20 Questions with me at the hospital. You did that because you don't remember anything? You don't even remember me, from before, at all?"

"I remember being a kid, growing up," Dawn said. "I can only remember the lies the monks made up for me,"

"Those lazy, celibate weirdos. They didn't even give you any memories from when you were, you know, before. There should be a Law against making a person and then robbing her of her true self. I could kill those smug fools all over again!"

"Glory, what am I? Please," As much as she appreciated seeing Glory get so worked up on her behalf, Dawn needed answers.

"You're the Key. You fit in a lock. That lock keeps the doors between dimensions closed. Back in the day I could just give you a nudge of divine power and pop back and forth between worlds easier than changing shoes, but for now I have to play by the rules. In the right place at the right time, we are going to do a ritual, like we did in the cemetery, and then, sister, we are going home,"

"Going home?"

Glory nodded. "Back to the Hell we came from,"

"That's it? That's the plan? You just want to go home?"

Just then, a minion entered the room in a clumsy rush and scraped his way to Glory's side.

"A thousand apologies, most lovely carnal thoughts inducing one, but the visitors you were expecting, they've arrived,"

"Well how about that?" Glory said. "Just when we were really getting into it," She turned to Dawn. "Stay right here, ok sweety? I have some questions I want to ask you when I get back,"

Glory left the parlor with her minion Murk and the High Priest in tow.

"Tall Guy, go back to the library and get back to work," Glory said as they walked down the hall towards the stairs.

"My name is Vecks, divine one, and as your High Priest-"

"Don't correct me, Tall Guy,"

"Of course not, beguiling inspirational one, but am I to assume that you do not want the Key to know the whole truth about the ceremony?"

"Obviously. You figure that out all by yourself?"

"Oh no, I figured it out with your elegant and discreet guidance, oh heavenly Glory,"

"Yeah, uh-huh, so are you building up to a question or something?" A potentially amusing thought occurred to Glory, so she took her knife back from the High Priest as he struggled to put his question together. Taking back the knife had the added benefit of frightening Vecks, although that was not the point.

"It's just, if we can't find another solution before the alignment, the bloodletting is really the only-"

"Hey! Now is not the time to embrace negative thinking. We have the Key, and you're going to figure this out," she took Tall Guy's hands in her own. "You are my High Priest for a reason, right? I know you won't let me down. Because if you do," Glory twisted the High Priest's hands and squeezed, dropping Vecks to his knees before her, "there won't be enough left of you to fill one of my dainty shoes,"

"If you love me," Glory continued, "figure it out,"

Glory saw the eagerness to please her on her High Priest's face and released him to scamper back to the library as ordered. Satisfied, she turned to Murk.

"Our special visitors are in the foyer?" she asked. At his affirmative nod she took off at a brisk pace down the stairs.

The slayer, the old man and the young man from the hospital, the two witches from the hospital, and one additional human woman were just finishing off a group of her minions as she descended the final stairs into the foyer.

"Oh look, it's Buffy and her wacky pals,"

All eyes turned to Glory when she spoke. Any of her minions who were still conscious took the opportunity to run away.

"Where the hell is my sister?" The Slayer demanded. Her tone was as disrespectful as ever.

"Funny you should ask," Glory replied, raising the knife for all to see. "Some of her is right here,"

The slayer attacked, as expected.


	9. Divine Introductions

Divine Introductions S5 Ep18

Glory tossed her knife aside and ducked under Buffy's attack to drive her own fist deep into the slayers stomach. The little vampire hunter was lucky Glory was in such an outstandingly good mood. She drove the air out of the slayer's lungs and punch-tossed her across the room, but did no permanent damage.

The old man leveled his crossbow at Glory as the young man circled behind her. Glory heard the twang of the crossbow - such a lovely sound - and the sound of the young man's sneakers on the stairs at the same moment.

Glory moved up the stairs ahead of the young man in a rush and seized him by the throat.

"Going somewhere, hero?"

"Xander!" the woman Glory didn't know called out. Glory saw fear in her eyes that she had beheld in the eyes of her victims' lovers in countless dimensions over the eons. Some things never changed. It brought a broad smile to her lips.

"Xander, is it? I'll make sure they get it right on your tombstone!" Glory had used that taunt a thousand times, it was easily one of her favorites. She hurled the wannabe hero away and he landed at the feet of his woman.

It would have been so much easier to kill him, but if Dawn was the slayer's sister she might have a soft spot for this lovable band of losers herself.

The slayer was getting back to her feet, but Glory was distracted by chanting from the two witches. She had let them get away with that last time and wound up going on an involuntary skydiving trip.

Not again! Glory ran at her full speed and grabbed the ginger witch by her jaw mid chant. Her speed produced a sound like the crack of a bullwhip behind her.

"You like magic? I'll do a trick for you,"

Glory clapped her hands together in an arc ending at the middle of the witch's jaw. She felt the bones of the young woman's mandible crunch under her fingers.

"Silencio!" Glory cried out in a mockery of a spell.

"Willow!" the second witch called out as the redhead crumpled howling in pain and holding her mouth.

A crossbow bolt bounced off of Glory's shoulder, as harmless as a snowflake.

"That's Xander," Glory said, pointing at the young man, then at the witch on the floor, "and that's Willow," finally she pointed at the second witch, "and now it's time for me to learn your name,"

Just then, something small and annoying slammed into Glory and drove her into a wall, punching her repeatedly.

"Buffy, you had your turn," Glory said, her every third word interrupted by a punch or a kick from the Slayer, "now I'm trying to get to know your friends,"

Glory headbutted the Slayer and threw her into the old man. She turned back to the second witch, who was now kneeling over Willow protectively.

"Sensus et aer oppleatur, corroflagreit!" the witch chanted quickly, raising her hands to the air between herself and Glory. Thick, dark smoke erupted from her hands and formed a cloud around Glory.

"This all you got for me?" Glory asked. Then she took a breath, without thinking, and felt the dark smoke stinging her nose, her lungs, her eyes. She coughed, which only seemed to drag more smoke into her lungs and, now, her mouth.

"My n-name is Tara Maclay!"

"Anya, now!" the Slayer called out as she untangled herself from the old man.

Anya reached into her bag and pulled out something small and round and threw it at Glory.

Glory caught the object before she could understand her mistake. Suddenly she was holding the Dagon Sphere in her own hand. The ball illuminated brightly in her grip and sent ripples of energy cascading outward, harmless to anyone but Glory.

The energy smothered glory with a sensation like drowning while in the throes of a five-alarm migraine, while at the same time revealing to Glory to true strength of the witch Tara's little spell. Suddenly, instead of a mild irritation in her eyes and mouth, Glory's entire body burned as if she had been dropped in a pool of acid.

Glory screamed in genuine agony and slammed the Dagon Sphere into the ground with all of her remaining might. The ball shattered like a christmas ornament beneath her and she started crawling out from the cloud of smoke.

"Big mistake," she said when she had gotten clear. She noticed more smoke streaming out from her mouth as she spoke.

"Doesn't look that way to me," Buffy's self-satisfied voice came from above her. Glory realised she was still on her hands and knees. She looked up and saw the Slayer standing over her with an axe in her hand.

The axe sang through the air and connected with Glory's face in an upswing. Now it was Glory who was sent sailing across the room. Buffy ran to her and brought the axe down again and again, dulling the weapon against Glory's invulnerable body.

Glory's lungs were still burning from the smoke, she couldn't catch her breath, and Buffy's viscous attacks were keeping her pinned down and, already weakened from the Dagon Sphere, draining her even further.

"No, no," Glory said, still struggling to rise, this couldn't be happening, "You can't take her. Dawn, Dawn!"

"You will never get anywhere near her again," Buffy raised the axe high over her head, furious at hearing her sister's name on the lips of her kidnapper, only to stop suddenly.

Dr. Ben was sprawled out on the ground before her, in the tattered remains of a lovely blue dress.


	10. Rescue?

Rescue? S5 Ep 18

Ben awoke to the sight of Buffy standing over him with an axe poised to swing. Glory had left him feeling compromised and in some pretty bizarre situations in the past, but this was a new one.

He had to think on his feet.

"Buffy?" he said. "Thank god, you . . . you've saved me!"

"Ben?" Buffy replied, slowly. "You're Glory?"

"Nah, that doesn't sound like me," Ben knew he only had to kill enough time for her to forget. He stood up and she lowered the axe, only somewhat reluctantly. "You drove Glory off, remember? I'll just go get a change of clothes and we can get out of here,"

Ben looked around the room and saw the usual gang of Buffy's closest friends. Did these people go everywhere together or what? It seemed as though their little Monster Squad had assembled and attacked his home. Why on earth would they risk attacking Glory directly.

How had any of them survived?

He noticed the group had converged around one spot, apart from Buffy, who was still just looking at Ben in astonishment while her memory of his transformation faded like a dream.

"Why are you wearing a dress?" she asked.

"What's important right now is, don't think about it," Ben advised her.

A groan came from the huddled group of Buffynaughts across the room. Maybe it hadn't been such a clean victory for them after all. Ben headed over to them with some urgency.

He hated this part. Now he had to see if he could help whoever Glory had hurt. Once again violence had followed Glory home and Ben had to see if he could fix whatever mess she made.

It was Buffy's friend Willow. Her jaw had suffered obvious and serious trauma. The injury was bleeding worryingly, but since she wasn't coughing or heaving, the blood loss was probably not coming from an internal injury, merely from whatever had ruined her mouth.

"Stabilize her head!" Ben called out. "Don't let her move," he gestured for Giles to hold her and began lightly probing her neck and skull. "Did Glory punch her?"

"No, it was a crushing, well, gesture," Giles replied. Xander illustrated with his hands, which was actually helpful.

"Believe it or not, that's pretty good news," if Glory had punched her they would need to worry about whiplash, spinal trauma, cranial trauma and concussion, but if she had simply broken Willow's jaw in her hands then Buffy's friend could probably expect to make a full recovery. Unless Glory hunted her down to finish the job.

Willow may or may not have heard him. Her focus was entirely on Tara, who was holding her hands and gently chanting something that sounded very soothing.

"Has anyone called an ambulance?" Ben asked.

"No, we can't wait for an ambulance," Buffy said. "We came here for my sister,"

The words hit Ben like a punch to the gut. "Glory has the - your sister?" that explained why they were here. If Glory had found the Key, his days of existing at all might be numbered. Ben slumped.

"Do you know where Glory is keeping her?" Buffy asked.

"And is she making Dawn wear something traditionally masculine, like a tuxedo?" Anya asked.

"Super not the time, Anya," Xander said.

"What? Everyone was thinking it," Anya replied, gesturing at Ben's little blue dress.

"Ben, please," Buffy said. "Is there a crypt or something around here? Cells, or a subterranean-"

"That's not where she'll be," Ben replied. "Follow me,"

Ben and Buffy left the others to watch over Willow as they hurried through the mansion. The minions scattered when they saw them, some with pitiful, mournful wailing at the sight of Ben. That was their standard greeting for him whenever he reemerged.

"Check in there," Ben pointed Buffy in the direction of the master bedroom while he ducked into the closet that had been put aside for himself.

If Buffy saw it, she wouldn't see anything to make her think he wasn't a prisoner. The room was more or less a cell. Drab, grey and empty, a stark contrast to the rest of the mansion, which Glory had filled with extravagance.

Ben grabbed some simple clothes and slipped out of Glory's dress.

Dawn was being hustled out a window in the master bedroom when Buffy burst through the doors. The minions who were escorting her scattered to the wind, except for Jinx.

"You may not take the Key," Jinx declared, drawing a knife from his belt. His hands trembled as he continued, "You may not rob Glorificus!"

Buffy slapped the knife out of his pale and scabby hand before swinging a dull axe into his head. The brave little demon crashed into the side of the bed and collapsed.

"Jinx!" Dawn cried out, surprised by her own dismay. She turned to Buffy, "You killed him,"

"Maybe," Buffy replied, confusing Dawn's statement for a question. "We have to get out of here, now!"

Dawn looked at the axe in her sister's hands. It was dull, and bent out of shape as though Buffy had spent a few hours smashing it against the side of a building.

"Did you . . . where is Glory?"

"She'll be back, let's go," Buffy took Dawn by the hand and started leading her out of the room.

"No!" Dawn pulled away from her sister. "Just hold on a minute, you don't understand,"

"Dawn, we do not have time for this!" Buffy said. "Willow is hurt and we have to go now!"

This time Dawn did not resist when Buffy took her and lead her out of the room. Willow was hurt? They had all come to save her and Willow got hurt, and Glory was gone. Five minutes ago she was talking with a beautiful goddess, learning the truth about herself from the only person who might really be able to tell her, and now somehow everything had gone wrong again. Dawn felt numb.

She had to step over Jinx's motionless body as they left.

Ben was waiting for them in the parlor in grey sweatpants and a plain white shirt. Together the three of them made their way back to the foyer where their friends were waiting.

"I'll get Willow to the hospital," Ben offered. "She's going to be ok, Buffy,"

"Thank you, Ben," Buffy said.

"Where will you take Dawn?" he asked.

"I'm not sure yet, but I'll call you at the hospital as soon as we have a plan," Buffy said. Dawn remembered Ben had tried to help her before, at the hospital, so he was probably on Glory's naughty list right next to the scoobies.

Together Ben and Tara carefully lifted Willow and headed outside, towards Xander's car.

"Willow, I am so sorry," Dawn said.

"Just go with your sister, she will keep you safe," Giles said quietly, turning to go with Willow as well. Then, gently, he added, "none of this was your fault, Dawn,"

Dawn was not so sure about that.


	11. Team Players

Team Players, S5 Ep 19

"We can't stay here long," Buffy said. "Glory obviously knows about this place,"

Tara was still at the hospital with Willow, who was finally out of surgery and doing well, so what was left of the gang had gathered at the Magic Box. Getting together at the Magic Box after a setback had become an almost instinctive habit for them, like meeting up at the high school library had once been.

Dawn watched her friends fret over what to do next. She was sure if she could get Buffy alone again she could make her understand. She had tried to explain a few times already, but Buffy wouldn't listen. All of this worrying wasn't necessary, they just had to trust her.

"I'm a bit surprised you asked us to meet you here," Giles said. "I had thought the plan was to hide Dawn with Spike whilst we determined our best course of action,"

"That's not an option anymore," Buffy said. "He's not reliable. We went there right away but he was with this . . . robot. He had a robot built to look like me," Buffy glanced at Dawn before continuing, "to practice fighting me,"

Dawn rolled her eyes so hard she thought they might fall out of her skull. Would they ever stop treating her like a dumb kid?

"Right, to practice fighting you," Dawn said. "I guess that explains why he wasn't wearing a shirt and the Buffybot was dressed like a cheerleader,"

Xander erupted into laughter at the revelation. Giles removed his glasses and cleaned them with an uncomfortable look on his face.

"Ugh," Anya groaned, directing a meaningful look at Xander, "what is it with boys and cheerleaders?"

Xander's laughter died instantly. "No, this is about Spike," he said, seemingly to himself, "everyone is laughing at Spike now, it's a good time!"

"Uh-anyway," Buffy went on, "we need to figure out our next move. Glory knows about Dawn, and this place, and where we live. It won't be hard for her to figure out where you guys live too. And she will definitely come for Dawn,"

"Well, maybe the best place to bunker down would be right here," Xander said, gesturing around them. "Large, familiar space, chock full of magic-y goodness for us, and every kind of knife made by humans in your training area in the back,"

"And Olaf's hammer," Anya said.

Dawn had almost forgotten about Olaf's hammer. She hadn't been around when the Troll had gone on his mini-rampage.

"No," Buffy said, cutting off the conversation. "We can't fight her. She's too strong,"

"And she does a terrifying Barry Allen impression," Xander added. "Have we ever fought anything that can move that fast?"

"It's not just that. We can't hurt her," Buffy said. "I've thrown everything I have at Glory and she doesn't even bruise. It doesn't so much as irritate her when I hit her," Buffy walked over to the shelf where Olaf's hammer was displayed.

"Willow and Tara teleported her away at the hospital," Buffy continued. "But they won't be doing that again anytime soon. Then we drove her off with the Dagon Sphere to save Dawn, and now we're fresh out of those. So unless someone has a better idea than hitting her with a big hammer, we can't fight Glory. She finds us again: she kills us,"

"So let's get out of here," Anya said. "Xander's weak human body can't take another beating,"

"Thanks, babe," Xander said.

"She's right," Buffy said. Xander started to object, but Buffy went on, "about leaving. We can't win, so our best option right now is to not be here when she comes for us,"

The suggestion was met with nervous silence. Dawn realized that, as a group, they had never faced a threat that had been so daunting that they actually decided to run away. Glory seemed to have pushed them all to their limits. Dawn felt something like pride at the idea.

"Any thoughts on a destination?" Xander asked, "Or is this a more general, 'anywhere but here' type of plan?"

"Well, I don't know yet," Buffy confessed. "But we can't abandon Willow and Tara, so we aren't going anywhere until Willow is ready to travel. That gives us a little time, so until then-"

"That's not our only option," Dawn interrupted. "Buffy, I really need to talk to you about this,"

"We are not going over this again," Buffy said. "You need to trust me, Dawn,"

"Glory doesn't want to hurt me," Dawn said, to the group as much as to her sister. "She doesn't want to hurt any of us, in fact she want's nothing to do with this whole world, she only wants to go home,"

"She told you this while you were her captive?" Giles asked.

"Kind of," Dawn admitted. "She said she needs the Key to do a ritual to open a door to go back to her dimension. Simple as that," Dawn made a hand-cleaning gesture, "no more evil god in Sunnydale, nobody else gets hurt,"

"Dawn, you are being manipulated!" Buffy said. "Glory is evil, she's a killer, when have you ever heard of an evil ritual that didn't involve a sacrifice?" she went on, pointing at Dawn to indicate what she thought that sacrifice might be.

"It's not like that at all," Dawn said. How could she make them understand? "Glory, she's not what you think, she's . . . she's amazing. I don't feel afraid when I'm around her, I feel safe,"

Buffy and Giles exchanged a look as she spoke, which Dawn didn't like one bit.

"There is no reason to be afraid," Dawn said.

"She just put Willow in the hospital," Buffy said. She always needed to get the final word on everything.

"Glory is a god," Dawn replied. "She had Willow in her hands, and Willow is still alive. That means something,"

"I'm afraid I have to agree with Buffy," Giles said. "We really can't consider Glory a reliable source of information, and there is no reason to think that any ritual she needed you for would be safe, or without consequences,"

Typical. So Buffy's special replacement Dad was on her side again, like always.

"Glory and I have already done magic together," Dawn told them. At their reactions, she added, "It was fine,"

"What did you do?" Buffy asked. It sounded more like an accusation than a question.

Dawn really didn't want to talk about what happened at the cemetery in front of everyone. She moved in closer to her sister.

"Buffy, could we just have, like, a minute to talk about this, please?"

"Dawny," Xander chimed in, "if you and less-stable-Callisto have been doing a coven-of-two thing, maybe you shouldn't be alone with anyone right now,"

Dawn searched the faces of her friends for support, people she considered heroes, who she trusted with her life, but she saw only confusion and disapproval.

"I talked to Mom," she whispered to her sister.

Dawn saw the impatience on Buffy's face change into shock in a heartbeat. "You did what?" She asked.

"Glory found me after the service, I had gone back to her grave and, well I was gonna-"

"You helped that evil _thing_ cast a spell on my dead mother?"

"She's my mom too,"

"What were you thinking? How could you be so stupid!"

"Buffy, just listen, please! Mom spoke to me, she looked so-" Dawn was cut off when Buffy grabbed her arm.

Over her protests, Buffy dragged Dawn by the arm and shoved her roughly into the storage closet behind the cash register. Dawn's feet slipped from under her and she landed on her side. She looked up to the doorway where Buffy seemed to tower over her.

"You are not my sister," Buffy told her, contempt dripping from her words as she slammed the door.


	12. The Ben and the Bold

The Ben and the Bold, S5 Ep20

"This is just terrible," Gronx complained, turning Glory's blue dress over in her hands and she and Ben descended a flight of stairs together, back in the mansion. "I'll never be able to mend this,"

"It wasn't really my color anyway," Ben said dismissively.

"Oh, inappropriate humor," Gronx said with an insincere laugh, "most amusing. I don't suppose you'd care to tell us where the perpetrators of this sartorial tragedy are hiding?"

"That's not going to happen," Ben said. He was still upset by what had happened at the hospital. To go back there, with Buffy's friends, only to find out that he had been fired because Glory had been monopolizing their body for weeks. It had been humiliating.

"Of course not," Gronx said. "I just thought that once her magnificent incandescence reclaimed her form from this manly and painfully handsome assemblage you might see the benefit of garnering some goodwill, perhaps with news of your new friends' whereabouts?"

He had been checking up on Willow regularly in the days since she had been admitted to the hospital, but they both knew that Glory had eyes on them there. She didn't talk about where Buffy or the Key were, and Ben wasn't foolish enough to ask.

"After everything Glory has taken from me, how can you still think I would even consider helping you?" Ben said.

"Why do you insist on fighting the inevitable?" Gronx said, "No one can stand against her blindingly scrumptious luminescence,"

"Glory, her name is just Glory," Ben said, at the edge of his patience, "and she's your god, you little scab, not mine,"

"With all due respect - and fear of sharp objects - you exist, sir, only because of her divine greatness,"

"You mean her divine failure, don't you?"

Gronx's expression darkened at the reminder, her inky black eyes narrowing. Ben was comforted by his ability to unsettle the minion's sycophantic confidence.

"You've already lost," Ben went on, relishing the ugly demon's frustration. "Glory let the key slip right through her fingers, and all Buffy has to do is hide her until the clock runs out on whatever half-baked doomsday plan Glory has in mind. There is no way you're gonna find her in time and then-"

"We have her blood," Gronx said. "Glory is connected to the girl, we know her name, we have earth from her mother's tomb, we have strands of hair that she shed while she was here, we have a kitten that marked her with it's scent, and we have her blood. Finding her will be the magical equivalent of making a phone call, once her heavenly mouthwatering radiance returns,"

Ben didn't know what to say. He knew just enough about magic to understand the importance of the grocery list of sympathetic items Gronx was referring to. They could use any of those items as the focus of a Location Spell, and then Glory would get her Key back.

Ben crossed the room and braced himself against the wall as his hopes collapsed. If Glory succeeded and went home, she would no longer need her human vessel. He would be obliterated.

"I never wanted any of this," he said. "I don't deserve to die like this,"

"We play the hand we're dealt," Gronx said. Ben supposed she understood something about the cruelty of fate. Her entire life had been spent happily and faithfully serving a god who might reward her loyalty one day by twisting her head off on a whim.

"All I wanted was to be normal. How can she do this to me?"

"She is a perfect, all encompassing light," Gronx said. "As sad as it is, one day this"-she waved a hand up and down Ben's body-"oh so appealing form will be shrugged off, but your loss will be the price the world pays so that everyone else can have the privilege of bathing in that divine light,"

Ben was unmoved by the bizarre sermon.

"Not if I get the Key first," he said, realizing it himself in the same instant.

Gronx hesitated, looking at Ben with fresh eyes.

"And if you did?" she asked, searching Ben's face intently as she spoke. "What then? Could you do it? Take a human life with your own hands?"

Ben could stop the ritual from ever happening. He could save this world from whatever magical blowback the ritual entailed, and save untold lives - albeit demonic ones - in Glory's home dimension who would be slaughtered by her if she returned. And he could save his own life. All he had to do was break the Key.

All he had to do was kill Dawn.

Ben scrambled to the phone, fishing Buffy's number out of his memory.


	13. Choosing Sides

Choosing Sides S5 Ep20

After holing up in Giles' apartment, an abandoned warehouse, a motel, and one awkward night at Jonathan Levinson's Mom's house, Dawn was glad to be back home, if only briefly.

Xander had gotten his hands on a ride that could accommodate the whole gang and everyone was supposed to meet at the house and gather whatever they needed before they hit the road.

She and Buffy had not exchanged a single word since the Magic Box.

Dawn sat on her own bed in her own room, doing something she was very practiced at: stewing and plotting against her jerk of a sister.

Dawn had no intention of leaving Sunnydale. Spike had told her once that if you put sugar in the gas tank of a car it did something, messed up the engine somehow. She just had to get her hands on some sugar from the kitchen.

She had also thought about slashing the tires, but nobody would let her hold a knife. Probably because of the whole cutting incident that happened after she stole Giles' notebook and found out the truth about herself. It made her feel like she was being looked down on again.

 _Can't let Dawny hold sharp objects, she might cut herself again,_ she imagined them snickering. They were blowing one incident way out of proportion, and now it was interfering with her attempt to . . . sabotage their plans to flee from the wrath of a royally pissed off god.

Dawn sighed. Her life was complicated.

"Dawny?" Tara's voice came from the other side of the door. "Is it OK if I come in?"

Dawn's pulse shot through the roof at the sound of her voice. She and Willow had only just arrived at the house from the hospital a short while ago. Dawn hadn't spoken to either of them since Glory broke Willow's jaw. Not knowing what Buffy had told them, or how they were doing, or what they were planning against Glory, made her anxious.

More than that, though, she was ashamed. She hadn't been able to visit them in the hospital, to tell them how sorry she was that Willow got hurt, and especially to tell them she was sorry for what they both had been put through for trying to save her. Even though she hadn't needed saving.

Dawn got up and opened the door. Tara smiled at her. Dawn wanted to tell her so much, but couldn't think of anything to say.

"Mind if I come in?" Tara asked.

Dawn waved her in and sat back down on her bed. Tara closed the door behind herself.

"Is Willow OK?" Dawn asked. "Is she here?"

"She's still on a lot of pain meds," Tara said. "They make her a little loopy. I tell her she's acting like Ariel when she first got legs: she can't talk and she's always falling down. But she's going to be fine. And she's here, we came together,"

"She's lucky to have you," Dawn said quietly. "Tara, I'm so sorry, I never wanted anyone-"

"I know Dawny," Tara sat down next to her, "and so does Willow. It wasn't your fault, and we wouldn't have done anything differently,"

Dawn sure wished they would have, but she let that go unsaid.

"You really n-need to talk to your sister," Tara said, changing the subject.

"She hates me," Dawn said. Once again, just thinking about Buffy stung. All of Dawn's worst fears were realized when Buffy had locked her up at the Magic Box.

 _You are not my sister._

"Siblings fight," Tara said. "You met my brother, remember? He's the worst. But he means the world to me,"

Dawn didn't say anything. Why should she have to be the one to reach out first? Buffy always seemed to get her way. Things would be different now, Dawn was resolved.

"I know she feels terrible about what she said," Tara continued. "She talked about it every time we saw her. I think seeing Willow hurt really freaked her out. She'd go crazy if anything happened to you,"

"Usually it's only Xander who gets hurt," Dawn said, "and we're all kind of used to that,"

"Or Giles," Tara added with a wink, "he's had so many bops on the head it's impressive he still remembers the alphabet,"

"Must be a Watcher secret. They're concussion proof,"

Tara laughed softly, then her expression became very serious. "Maybe they are . . ." she whispered.

"Tara, there is something important I want to ask you,"

"You can ask me anything, Dawny," Tara said, popping out of her distracting train of thought.

"How did you first know, about, you know . . ." Dawn hesitated, hoping Tara would just get it, but the older, witchier woman waited for her to finish. "Girls?" Dawn said at last.

Tara became very quiet in reaction to the question. She stared and the door for a moment before standing up and bringing the chair from Dawn's desk over to her bed. She sat down in it, looking at Dawn thoughtfully before answering.

"I was about your age," Tara said, "It's not something that happens all at once, but I do remember one day when I was making masks for my school's Halloween Dance with some other girls, and Alice Button, who was so tall, and the captain of the debate team, put one on and asked me how she looked. She was just joking around, but I looked into her eyes and I remember thinking how dreamy they were, and my tummy got all wobbly, and I pretty much knew,"

Dawn remembered the first time she had laid eyes on Glory, that day when she had come to the house to mess with Buffy. She remembered how the sight of Glory had taken her breath away, how attention from Glory made her heart beat faster, how a passing compliment had made her dizzy.

Dawn didn't know if she was exactly like Tara or not, but she knew one thing for sure: she was in love with Glory.

"Buffy told me some of the stuff you said about Glory," Tara said after a moment, as though she could sense Dawn's thoughts. "I get that you guys have a connection. I mean, we all _know_ that you two are connected. But whatever you are thinking, or feeling, you have to know that you can't be with her,"

Dawn felt a surge of anger at her words, but resisted saying anything. This was Tara. Tara, who was always nice to her, to everyone. She was even being nice to her now, after Dawn had more or less confessed to having feelings for the woman who put Willow in the hospital.

"Just because you have a connection with a person doesn't mean they're right for you," Tara went on, "or that you should jump into some kind of relationship. Glory isn't right for anyone,"

"I know," Dawn was coming up with a plan. She didn't like it, but Tara and Willow were seriously powerful witches, and together they had actually succeeded in frustrating Glory twice, first at the hospital and again at the mansion.

"Glory is Evil," Dawn said, taking Tara's hands in her own. "She is a monster, and she is literally from Hell," Dawn took a breath before finishing,

"Just like me,"

"No, Dawny-" Tara instinctively started to comfort Dawn, not yet understanding.

"No, Tara. Listen to me," Dawn cut her off, keeping her voice carefully calm. "Pretty soon we are all going to have to make some hard choices. We are all going to have to choose a side. At least, those of us who haven't already decided what side we're on,"

"What are you saying?" Tara said.

"I'm saying I need you to be on Willow's side. Willow won't be safe if she fights Glory again. Glory knows how strong you two are, she'll target Willow,"

"But Buffy-"

"Buffy will be fine. Buffy was made for fights like this. Willow is already hurt, she needs you to keep her safe. That's your job. That's whose side you should be on,"

Tara stared at her with a look of astonishment and, Dawn feared, hurt. She hated manipulating Tara, but reminded herself that everything she had said about her and Willow was true.

Still, it was Tara. Of all the scoobies, she was the newest. Of all the important people in her life, Tara's memories of Dawn were the most real. The monks hadn't needed to alter years of her life, she had only known Dawn for a few months. Most of Tara's memories with her had actually happened. That felt important in a way that was difficult to express.

Dawn was about to apologize, to take it back, when a flaming arrow smashed through her bedroom window and planted itself in the wall.

Dawn and Tara sprang to their feet as loud commotion suddenly erupted throughout the house. Dawn pulled the arrow out of the wall and tossed it into her trash bin before she and Tara ran downstairs.

At the bottom of the stairs, Buffy was braced against the door, holding it closed, as Giles and Xander frantically piled furniture against the windows. Human voices could be heard shouting outside the house.

"The link must be severed! It is the will of God!"

Anya was helping Ben to his feet in the living room.

"I don't know what happened," Ben said, "they were right behind me as soon as I pulled into your neighborhood,"

Giles cried out in pain and fell away from the window, holding his side. A blood-slick blade was briefly visible where he had been standing, before whoever was holding it pulled it back.

Without Giles' help, the table he and Xander were holding up fell away from the window. Armored men, with identical tattoos on their foreheads, smashed the window and poured through the opening.


	14. Hey, it's Gregor

Hey, it's Gregor S5 Ep20

Tara and Willow sat cross legged on top of the dining room table, holding hands. Tara's quiet but focused chanting was the only thing keeping the army of the actual medieval knights at bay outside the house.

After the first wave had been repulsed (by Buffy, pretty much single-handedly) she and Willow had managed to erect a barrier to reinforce the structure of the house, including the spaces where the physical structure of the house was compromised or even missing, as in the case of the yawning hole in the living room where a window used to be.

Dawn found the ritual fascinating. Tara and Willow really were inspiring. They had to be kept away from Glory.

In the kitchen Ben was treating and keeping an eye on Giles, while in the living room Buffy and Xander had tied the leader of the knights to a chair.

He was definitely their leader. He was wearing a cape and everything. He was also older than the average soldier had been, though he still carried himself like an athlete. He scowled at anyone who met his eyes, the grisly scars on his face somehow winning the battle to draw more attention than the tattoo on his forehead.

They all regarded each other in hostile silence. Apart from Tara's chanting, the only sounds were the occasional taunts from the Knights outside. They had had retreated to a safe distance while their clerics wrestled against Tara and Willow's barrier.

"Are we sure the leader of the cosplay guild here speaks english?" Xander asked.

"He understands us," Buffy said. "Don't you?"

"You were warned we would return, Slayer," he said, struggling to seem intimidating while looking up at his captors from a plush yellow armchair.

Dawn sighed in frustration, unsurprised to learn that Buffy had known about these enemies and not told her. She wondered who else knew.

"Took you long enough," Buffy said. "What are you supposed to be, some kind of chief?"

The older man flinched almost imperceptibly.

"General," he said, as though the title made him uncomfortable. Then again, maybe he was just embarrassed to admit it after getting knocked down and tied up.

"General," Buffy repeated, taking a mocking step towards him, "in charge of what, getting captured?"

"You do not frighten me, child," the General said. Then he looked at Dawn, and she saw a coldness in his eyes as he regarded her that reminded her of Angelus. "The instrument of Chaos must be destroyed,"

Buffy took another step forward, stopping inches away from the restrained man. She slapped her hands around his neck, bringing his attention back to her.

"Look at her that way again, and she will be the last thing you ever see,"

The forcefulness of her sister's words surprised Dawn. She had not hesitated or looked at her or needed to talk to Giles, she simply reacted. The moment she saw the threat in his eyes Buffy seized Mr. Bigshow General Guy by his neck and directly threatened to kill him.

Dawn remembered how good it felt when the Slayer had your back.

The General, for his part, was less impressed.

"It is as I've been told," he said, his expression unchanged at Buffy's offer to murder him. "You protect the Key of the Beast,"

"It's not that simple," Buffy said, stepping away from him and visibly trying to compose herself.

"Yes," he said, "The Key has been transformed. Given breath, life. Yet this makes no difference. The Key is the link, the link must be severed. Such is the will of God,"

"The will of a God," Dawn said, circling across the room behind her sister. "The wrong one,"

Buffy turned to Dawn, "You are just committed to making this impossible for me, aren't you?"

Dawn shrugged.

"Just listen to her," the General said. "The Key is too dangerous to be allowed to exist,"

"Shut up!" Buffy spun on him. "She doesn't remember any of it, she doesn't remember being the Key, she's human now,"

"It does not matter what form she has been pressed into," he replied, straining against his ropes. He turned his attention to Dawn again, "The Key will always be the instrument of the Beast!"

"I'm very sure I warned you not to look at her that way again," Buffy said, her hands curling into fists.

"So tell them about me," Dawn felt the need to interrupt before Buffy beat this old fool unconscious. "Tell them what kind of instrument the Key really is,"

The General looked at her, scowling through his scars, but Buffy didn't hit him, and he got a moment to rethink his attitude.

"What do you know of the Beast?" he asked.

"Strong, fast, Hell God," Buffy answered, "from a demon dimension," she finished with a pointed look at Dawn.

"A dimension of unspeakable torment," The General said.

"I know. She ruled with two other hell-gods, right?"

Dawn hadn't known that. She kept her poker-face up, but it stung to still be behind Buffy in the knowledge department, especially about Glory.

"Along with the Beast they were a triumvirate of suffering and despair, ruling with equal vengeance," The General confirmed. "But the Beast's power grew beyond what even they could conceive, as did her lust for pain and misery. They looked upon her, what she had become, and trembled,"

"A god afraid?" Buffy asked.

"Such was her power," he said. He leaned in, like a camp counselor talking to kids around a fire. "They feared she would attempt to seize their dimension for herself and decided to strike first. A great battle erupted. In the end they stood victorious over the Beast. Barely. She was cast out, banished to this lower plane of existence. Forced to live and eventually die trapped within the body of a mortal. A newborn male, created as her prison. That is the Beasts only weakness,"

"Kill the man, and the god dies," Buffy said.

"What about me?" Dawn said. This conversation had to be rerouted. She couldn't just stand there and let Buffy and this old man discuss how to Kill Glory. "Tell her about the Key,"

The General looked at Dawn again, but this time his expression was not cold. Dawn could sense a curiosity in him as he looked at her now. She realized then that the Key must have been like a religious artefact to him, before she became a girl. If he could get past his fanatical need to kill her, there was probably a lot he wanted to ask her.

"The Key is almost as old as the Beast itself," he said. "Where it came from, who made it: the deepest of mysteries. All that is certain is that it's power is absolute. Countless generations of my people have sacrificed their lives in search of it. To destroy it, before it's wrath could be unleashed,"

"You're being vague," Dawn was getting tired of having to hold the old man's hand to guide him through this conversation. She just needed him to confirm Glory's plan to Buffy. "What does Glory want to accomplish with the Key,"

"You were created to open the gates that separate dimensions. The Beast will use your power to return home and seize control of the hell she was banished from,"

The General paused, having delivered his dramatic bombshell. Dawn watched Buffy carefully, but her sister's face was turned away from her.

"That's seriously it?" Buffy asked with a mirthless laugh. "That's Glory's big plan? To go home?"

"That's just what I said when she told me," Dawn said, taking a step toward her sister. Now, at last, maybe everyone could stop fighting and listen to each other.

"You misunderstand," The General said, his eyes fixed coldly on Dawn once again. "Once the Key is activated it won't just open the gates to the Beast's dimension, it's going to open all the gates,"

That was an unexpected caveat. Glory hadn't said anything about other gates.

"The walls separating realities will crumble," he went on, his words battering against Dawn's desperate disbelief, her need to trust Glory. "Dimensions will bleed into each other. Order itself will be overthrown and the universe will tumble into chaos. All dark, forever. That is what you were created for,"

Dawn backed away from the seated, restrained man until she bumped against the wall. She felt untethered, lost. It couldn't be true.

Glory wouldn't have deceived her like this, would she?

"The monks," Dawn said, seizing on what she believed to be an inconsistency in the General's story. "The monks got to me first. If the Key is so evil, so dangerous, why didn't they destroy it?"

Something like hope took root in Dawn's mind. Who would leave an ancient mystical doomsday device just lying around the monastery? She couldn't imagine it would help with their meditations, or prayers, or whatever monks did.

"Because they were fools," the General replied. "They thought they could harness the power of the Key for the Light, but they failed. And paid with their blood,"

Fanatics always have an answer for everything. Dawn turned and made her way out of the room on uncertain feet. Her mind was a riot of memories, fighting to reconstruct her conversations with Glory, to get past her feelings, to determine the truth.

"There is only one way to prevent this doom from befalling us," the General's voice followed Dawn as she tried to walk away, "If you value anything, if there is anything in this world that is precious to you, if you honor the memories of the dead, or value the lives of all the generations yet unborn, then that girl must die,"


	15. Glorious Reunion

Glorious Reunion S5 Ep20

Dawn sat alone in the basement, one thought repeating over and over again in her mind: _Why is everyone always trying to kill me?_

Was the universe trying to defend itself? Was that why she was always being kidnapped and threatened?

Perhaps the world was rejecting her, like a bad transplant. Something had gone wrong in the spell the monks did to create her, and reality itself wouldn't be content until the mistake was eradicated.

And Reality, which all the available evidence indicated was her enemy, seemed to have a point. If the General's claims were true, she really was a threat to existence itself. She was the end of all things. She brought darkness. Forever.

Dawn thought of her mother. Her thoughts lingered on all the times she had disappointed her. Every lousy report card, overdue library book, every class she cut, all her fights with Buffy, all seemed so unimportant now. What if her mother had lived to learn that her daughter was the key to armageddon?

More than anything, she wished Glory was there. Nothing would have made her happier in that moment. Dawn knew, deep in her heart, that if she could just get back to Glory everything would be fine. Whatever the truth was they could figure out a solution if they were together.

"Dawn?" Buffy's voice called softly into the basement.

Dawn looked up as the slayer came down the stairs to join her. Buffy sat down next to her without another word. At least she wasn't locking her up again.

"Do you think it's true, what he said?" Dawn asked. "About me being Doomsday Dawn?"

"I don't know," Buffy said. It was a surprising concession. Dawn had expected a piping hot round of I-told-you-so from Buffy.

"Destroyer of the Universe," Dawn said ruefully. "The Master, Spike, Adam, they all would have been so jealous if they knew,"

"It's not you," Buffy said, "it's not who you are,"

Wasn't it? Dawn was grateful Buffy couldn't read her thoughts. They had just been told that Glory would use her to destroy reality, and all Dawn wanted was for Glory to show up and take her away.

"What are you going to do?" Dawn asked.

"The plan hasn't changed," Buffy said after a moment's pause. "We hit the road and keep moving. Eventually, when we get some distance between us and the unholy-headcase, we learn as much as we need to know about this ritual to shut it down,"

Dawn felt her sister watching her as she laid out her plan and casually insulted Glory. She had wanted to see her reaction. It was obvious. If Glory was manipulating Dawn to destroy the world, at least her manipulations were more subtle than Buffy's. Then again, for all her wonderfulness, Dawn did not think that subtlety was one of Glory's strengths.

"You just have to figure out how to get past the _Monty Python and the Holy Grail_ reenactors," she said.

"I'm going to talk to Xander about that," Buffy said. "I just wanted to make sure you were ok first,"

Dawn nodded. "I'll check on Giles," she said, standing up.

"Dawn, wait," Buffy called out to her. "Tell me you get it. You understand, right? You know that I can't let you and . . . that I can't let Glory get her hands on you,"

"I get it," Dawn said. The truth was she wanted to scream in Buffy's face. _You locked me in a closet, you tossed me aside, you said I wasn't even your sister!_

"It's not because it's my job or whatever," Buffy said, taking Dawn's hands in her own. "Dawny-"

"Dont," Dawn said, abruptly pulling her hands away. She caught herself too late; being angry at Buffy wouldn't get her anywhere. It was time for her to be subtle.

"I mean, I really do get it," Dawn went on more gently, taking her sister by the arm and guiding her back upstairs. "I know how weird I've been lately. The world just keeps piling on, you know? Glory, and Mom, then finding out about the Key, then Willow getting hurt. It's just too much sometimes,"

"Boy do I ever get that," Buffy said with a sigh of relief.

Dawn braced herself for what she was going to say next. She had to say it without flinching or looking angry.

"I'm sorry," she said, the words almost sticking in her throat, "I don't know what I would have done without you, sis,"

"Oh, that's easy," Anya said as they exited the basement, apparently having overheard them, "you would have died,"

0o0o0o0

In the kitchen, Ben was reconfirming Giles' vitals for what must have been the hundredth time when Dawn walked in. The girl made her way slowly to the table where Giles was laid out.

"Is he going to be ok?" She asked.

Ben was caught off guard by the question. He had expected her to start grilling him about Glory right away. Why had he been at the mansion, how long was he there, why hadn't she seen him when Glory had her, what was his connection to Glory, Ben had answers ready and rehearsed for all the questions he could imagine them asking. Only no one had asked. Then Dawn walked in and, instead of launching an investigation, she asked about Giles.

Because she was just a kid. Just a normal girl, worried about her friend.

And Ben was going to kill her. He was surprised by how calm he felt about it. For days he hadn't slept, waiting to hear back from Buffy, worrying about if he could really do the deed. Now he was here, with Dawn, and it felt very simple. He knew what he had to do.

"He was hurt pretty bad," was all Ben could think to say. He walked around the girl to his medical supply bag and retrieved a syringe and his small supply of chlorofentanyl. The sedative would be sufficient to ensure Giles didn't raise any alarm. The old man drifted into unconsciousness with a sigh as Ben dosed him. "Life goes this way sometimes. You don't do anything wrong, so you end up paying for other people's mistakes,"

"Just do whatever you can," Dawn said. "He's a good guy,"

"Dawn, I want you to know that none of this is your fault," Ben said. "I really do hope that you understand that,"

"I stopped caring about whose fault it was a long time ago," Dawn said quietly.

Ben looked at the lovely girl as a rush of clarity came over him. Ben knew that Dawn was about to die, that she would not leave this room alive, but she had no idea. Ben felt something as he looked at his intended victim that he had never felt before: control.

This was what he had been missing all his life. Not just control over his own body, so often denied him, but control over his destiny, and that of this girl, and even Glory herself. It was all in his hands now. The flood of his emotions felt like a drug. He was at a momentous crossroad. He was about to set himself free.

"Are you alright?" Dawn asked.

Ben must have been staring at the girl without realizing it. He hadn't meant to startle her.

"I'm fine," he said. This was it. His mind went to the scalpel in his medical bag.

Then his perception lurched as violently as it ever had in his life.

Glory. Of course she would try and fight him now!

Dawn saw Ben shudder and lean against the table with a groan. She hadn't liked the way he had been looking at her, but something about this change in him felt familiar, even welcome. Dawn couldn't quite figure out why that might be.

Suddenly Ben lunged at her, his arms reaching for her neck. His face was twisted by a manic frenzy, and in his eyes Dawn saw a desire that she recognized immediately. Ben meant to harm her.

Dawn grabbed Ben's forearms as they invaded her personal space and twisted her own body, guiding Ben around herself and using his own momentum to deposit him on the floor. Ben may have wanted to hurt her, but he was no vampire. He was certainly no demon. Dawn didn't have a very good track record in fights it was true, but all her fights had been against monsters. She had learned enough from watching Buffy over the years and sporadically training with Giles to fend off a meager human man.

She looked down at him as he convulsed on the floor and felt positively giddy, though again, she wasn't sure why. For some reason looking at him in this state felt like looking at a pile of unopened birthday presents.

Ben wobbled back to his feet and stumbled away from Dawn like a drunk.

"Let me out of here!" he hollered, rushing through the living room as fast as his unstable legs would propel him. Dawn followed him.

He stopped in front of the door, working the handle pointlessly. Tara and Willow's spell was still up. Everyone who wasn't tied up or sedated had noticed the scene he was making and had started gathering around them.

"You don't get it, you have to let me out of here!" he yelled again.

"Ok, alright," Buffy said, confused but ready to try and help. She turned to Tara and Willow, "can you guys get the door open or-"

"Wait!" Dawn cut her off. She knew she needed to see how this ended. Besides, after Ben's little stunt in the kitchen, not letting him get what he wanted felt like its own reward.

Ben held his head in his hands, trying to stop the change through sheer willpower. He was so close, this was supposed to be his moment!

Glory opened her eyes and happily shook out the tension in her shoulders. Ben had really put up a fight that time. She wasn't even completely sure why this moment had felt so urgent, but something in her divine gut had told her she needed to make a dramatic entrance.

She was in the Summers' home again, of all places, and surrounded by the usual suspects. She locked eyes with Dawn, whose dizzy laughter was lighting up the room.

"Well whaddya know?" Glory said. "I guess Ben finally did something right,"

"The Beast," said a voice Glory recognized. The grizzled leader of the Knights of Byzantium was here too, and all tied up for her like a sacrifice.

"Hey, it's Gregor!" she said mockingly. So the Knights had found Dawn. That must have been what had drawn her out.

Happy to cross an item off her to-do list, Glory picked up a piece of rubble from her feet - it looked as though something had recently smashed a window and some furniture - and hurled it through Gregor's chest.

The veteran warrior and general grunted in surprise, then died.

"Now it's not," Glory said, wrapping up the story of Gregor's life just as she had for so many of his brothers in arms.

Glory reflexively backhanded Buffy as she charged at her, sending the slayer careening into the boy, Xander, and his woman. The brief interaction brought back a memory, of Buffy standing over her, weapon in hand, condescending smirk on her stupid face.

Before her anger at the embarrassing memory could take firm hold of Glory, Dawn rushed up to her and threw her arms around the goddess. It was the first time Dawn had ever initiated such contact. Glory wrapped her arms around Dawn in return and pulled her in close.

"Did you miss me, tiny snapdragon?" Glory whispered in Dawn's ear.

"Take me away from here," the girl responded.

"You got it, sweetheart," All preoccupation with Buffy vanished at the girl's simple request. Glory turned and worked the door handle behind her, which stuck as though jammed in place by something.

No big deal, Glory thought, winding back her arm to punch down the door.

"Wait a sec," Dawn said as Glory prepared to power through the door. She didn't doubt that Glory had the strength to smash apart Tara's spell, but there was a better way.

Dawn stepped away from Glory, still holding onto her hand, and looked into the dining room where Tara and Willow were watching them from their spot atop the table, eyes wide with fear and astonishment. Tara's marathon chanting session continued uninterrupted, keeping the barrier intact.

"Guys, open the door," Dawn said to the two witches as calmly as she could. This was it. She had told Tara that a moment like this was coming, where a choice would have to be made, for good and all. She had made it as clear as she could what she wanted Tara to do. Now it was decision time.

They stared at her. Willow shook her head and motioned for Dawn to come over to her.

At the other end of the room Buffy was getting back to her feet. Xander called Dawn's name, though Anya was holding him back. In another few seconds there would be more fighting. Dawn felt as though the walls were closing in on her.

Dawn shut her eyes to fight the panic rising inside her. She couldn't let this happen! She didn't want the people she cared for the most in the world to tear each other apart over her for no reason at all.

"I said, open the door!" Dawn screamed with all her might. She felt her cheeks flush with heat, felt her blood coursing hotly in her veins, and heard the door slam against the wall as it flew open.

She opened her eyes and saw Tara reeling in her spot on the table, holding her head. She turned to Glory, who was grinning ear to ear, her eyes shining with pride.

What had just happened?

Glory wheeled on the spot and pulled Dawn out into the front yard of her house where the host of the Knights of Byzantium was forming up. Dawn heard the knights calling out to one another and cursing the name of the newly arrived Beast.

The knights were so many. Even caught off guard, they were numerous enough to present a wall of flesh and steel to Dawn and Glory almost instantly, blocking off their intended escape.

Dawn felt a little silly for having forgotten about them in all the excitement.

The knights wasted no time, drawing their weapons and rushing at the two women on the lawn. Dawn noticed as they charged that the knights had all locked their eyes on her, not Glory. Smart. They clearly realized that their blades would do no good against the god, so they were intent on putting them where they would do the most damage. Namely, right through Dawn's heart.

Glory slammed into the wall of soldiers like a buzzsaw. The speed and power of her attack transformed her into a crimson wave that cut across the line of warriors, filling the air with the groaning of metal as armor was torn apart and the cries of the men inside the armor as they died.

Dawn watched in awe. She felt no sympathy for the knights, who had only come to this place to break into her home and kill her and any of her loved ones who got in their way. She also understood that this was as close as she had ever gotten to seeing Glory as she had been, as a god of carnage.

It was over in a few seconds. The scene turned quiet and Glory, covered in blood, returned to Dawn's side.

"You look like Carrie," Dawn told her.

"Carrie must be beautiful," Glory said as she scooped Dawn up in her arms with a wink, "Should I be jealous?"

Dawn heard her sister frantically calling her name from the house, and saw the desperation in her eyes as Buffy stepped out the door and onto the blood soaked lawn.

"We gotta go," Glory said. Dawn wrapped her arms tightly around Glory's immaculate neck and shoulders.

"Buffy," Dawn called to her sister, her own voice full of sadness. She understood where her choices were leading her. She knew that she might never see her sister again. Despite all their recent fighting, it wasn't easy to see Buffy in such obvious pain. "I'm sorry,"

Dawn saw Buffy fall to her knees on the lawn as Glory carried her away with incredible speed. The lost, hopeless look on Buffy's face as they sped away was something Dawn would never forget.


	16. A New Point of View

**S5 Ep21 A New Point of View**

"That's absurd," Glory said, waving her arm through the air to watch the fabric of her new robe swish. The robe was clearly ceremonial. It's gold and crimson patterns swirled over thick but soft-looking fabric, under which Glory wore a surprisingly simple long sleeved black shirt and pants cinched at the waist with a silver chain. "Just think about who told you this stupid story: a crazy religious weirdo who hates me - correction, hated me - so much he got it tattooed on his face,"

Dawn nodded, not yet fully convinced. She wished she could forget what Gregor had said so easily, but the stakes were too high.

The pair had made their way back to Glory's mansion, though it seemed that they would not be staying long. Dawn had curled up in one of the big red armchairs and immediately recounted Gregor's bombshell as Glory had set the minions to packing up all of her belongings.

"Really, think about it," Glory continued, "What is it that I want out of all this? Why was I looking for you in the first place?"

Dawn waited until she was sure the question was not rhetorical. Glory did have a slight tendency to monologue.

"You want to go home," Dawn said.

"Right, and if I destroy the universe, send order tumbling into chaos, or whatever the Knights of The Short Buss told you, what will that do to my own cozy hell dimension?"

Dawn exhaled and rested her head in her hands as understanding settled over her like a warm blanket. Glory couldn't go home if she destroyed the universe to get there.

"Destroying the universe isn't your plan, it would ruin your plans," she said.

"And she didn't even need to use a Lifeline!" Glory said with a smirk. She refused to let Gregor upset her from beyond the grave with his lies. It was impossible for any of the Knights to understand her greatness, and besides, Glory only held grudges against the living.

"You aren't going to take down the walls between all the dimensions," Dawn went on, softly reassuring herself.

"Well," Glory said, "technically, that will happen. For like a minute! A minute at the most. The ritual is less precise than either of us would like, but it is our only option. We pry open the doors, hop through, and when I'm restored we'll just close the doors again behind us. No muss, hardly any fuss,"

"So earth, all my friends, will be exposed to all kinds of hells and demon worlds, but only for a minute?" Dawn asked, mortified.

"That's a reductive view of the multiverse, Dawny. Maybe earth will only brush up against the dimension of Nothing But Shrimp, or the World Without Mushrooms, you don't know. There's lots of dimensions. I've even been to one where everything was as soft as a pillow,"

Glory took Dawn's hands in her own and lifted her out of the chair.

"Don't pout, sweetie," Glory brushed Dawn's hair back and gently caressed her face. "Everything is going to be fine. You and I are going home, to our real home, not that fake suburban nightmare the monks cooked up. Once we're home I can grind you up a couple levels and then you can jump back here and make sure the world didn't end, or whatever, as often as you want,"

"Grind me up?" Dawn said, closing her eyes as Glory stroked her cheek. She knew Glory's words were not meant as a threat - progress! - but they were still confusing.

"Right," Glory said, " I know you and the witches have dabbled, but you have a new coach now, and with my help, well I just can't wait to see what you become,"

Dawn was at a loss. Was this some kind of . . . gay lingo?

"The witches, Willow and Tara, we never . . ." Dawn struggled to explain. How was a girl supposed to tell the god she was crushing on that there was nobody before her, that Willow and Tara were like sisters to her?

"You've done some magic, don't fib," Glory said.

A quick laugh escaped Dawn before she could stop it. "Oh, yeah. I've done a couple spells I guess,"

"Right," Glory said, "and I'll bet you never thought you'd be able to do magic by instinct like you did back at your house,"

The bickering of a pair of minions drew Glory's attention away as Dawn digested her words. She didn't remember doing any magic at the house.

"If Dawn wasn't here I'd pop both your heads like pimples," Glory was telling her demons. "Now get back to work already,"

"Sorry about that, sweetie," Glory said, turning her attention back to Dawn, "but you just can't count on these pathetic little worms to supervise themselves,"

"Glory, what do you mean about me doing magic instinctively?" Dawn asked.

"I meant the way you opened the door," she answered. When Dawn's only response was a confused look, she continued, "Those two witches tried to trap us in there like a couple of pitiful humans. Good thing I brought my special Key, know what I mean?"

"I didn't do anything," Dawn said.

Confusion was something Glory had expected, but not to this extent. Nevertheless, she had been looking forward to having this talk since she moment she saw Dawn launch a pulse of energy at a magically sealed door just before it had slammed open.

"I had my hopes, but I couldn't be sure until I saw it with my own eyes," Glory said. "The monks made you human, which overall pretty much sucks, but there are a few upsides. Humans have free will, and some of them, like witches, can manipulate mystical energy. Energy such as, for instance, the stuff flowing through your veins right now. Ancient supernatural power, at your fingertips,"

Glory took Dawn's hand in her own and turned her palms up to look at the thin, mostly healed scratch where Glory had cut her just a few days ago, to taste her blood, to prove her identity.

"I've tasted your power, Dawn," she went on. "The energy that binds and separated all dimensions. Believe me when I tell you that there may not be a bottom to the reservoir of strength locked away in this cute little body. Everything you've seen Willow and Tara do: child's play. They haven't even scratched the surface of your potential. You used to be an artefact of terrible power, armies fought and died for access to you, and now you are something entirely new. With my help, who knows what you could become. Together, we are gonna be unstoppable.

"Dawn, I think this is the reason I had to endure exile and defeat. I had to be cast out of hell and lose my Key so that you could exist. I had to live trapped in a human form so that I could recognize our connection when I found you. None of this happened by accident. We were meant to find each other, and be together. It was all for this,"

Glory raised Dawn's hand to her lips and placed a gentle kiss on her scratched finger.

Dawn's head was spinning. Glory had just described all the things Dawn hadn't even realized she had ever wanted. Forget being the Slayer's sister; she had her own power, the Slayer was suddenly beneath her. For the first time since she had learned the truth about herself Dawn was excited to be the Key.

"I think The Beast is trying to tempt me with power," Dawn said, her voice trembling with emotion.

Glory looked at Dawn with mischief gleaming in her warm blue eyes.

"Well," she said, "I'm trying to tempt you with something,"


	17. The Battle of the Body

**S5 Ep21**

 **The Battle of the Body**

The ritual tower rose into the sky, a skeletal finger thrust upward in defiance of it's own shoddy construction. Around the tower a horde of the mentally-ill men and women of Sunnydale buzzed like ants, muttering to themselves over the clamor that typifies all construction sites.

Dawn thought the tower looked like it was made of Doozer Sticks. She half expected a giant Fraggle to show up and start eating it.

"You want me to climb up that thing?" She asked Glory as they made their way toward the unstable looking monolith. "It looks like a strong breeze will knock it down,"

"It'll get the job done," Glory said. She had to admit that her very important ritual tower wasn't exactly up to her usual standards, aesthetically speaking. For this one night aesthetics was taking a back seat.

The crazies began to notice them as they got closer. Men and women, barely lucid but wielding heavy construction equipment, stopped what they were doing to rubberneck at the two women and the handful of minions escorting them.

"The Key," dozens of voices muttered as one. More voices joined in, and the muttering becoming a chant. The crowd parted and went to their knees as Dawn and Glory moved through them.

Frustration and impatience rose up in Glory. Didn't these fools know that Dawn hates being referred to as "The Key"? She rubbed her temples and picked up their pace.

"Unbelievable how annoying the groupies can be," Glory said, still trying to massage the tension out of her face.

"They merely sense that tonight, at last, the dimensional portal shall open, ushering in the long and bloody reign of the glittering, glistening, Glory," Murk the minion declared as they entered the private area Glory had insisted on having built at the base of the tower.

It took some generosity to call the space a room, what with the missing ceiling tiles and empty spaces in the walls where windows would be added later, if at all. It was a dusty, open, unfinished space, but it was far enough away from the base of the tower that you didn't have to yell to be heard over the sound of construction, and it had a door that created the illusion of privacy.

The high priest, the recently renamed Tall Guy, guided Dawn to a corner of the room, where pictures of Glory formed a mosaic on the wall over candles and a bouquet of flowers. A makeshift shrine, one part religious reverence and one part stalkerish objectification.

As Dawn watched, Tall Guy produced a tin from somewhere within his clean red robes and opened it to reveal a few ounces of wet ash within. He dipped his finger in the ashes and spread them over her forehead with great reverence, whispering something poetic sounding in a language she had never heard before.

"What's he saying?" Dawn called out to Glory, who was still enduring the encouraging chatter of her minions. "Does everyone speak this language where you're from?"

Her own question made Dawn uneasy. If she didn't even know what language they spoke in Glory's home dimension, what else was she unprepared for?

Things were getting very real very quickly. Dawn had only struggled with the question of if she was really going to leave with Glory for about a second. She would follow Glory anywhere. The other option, of staying behind without her, was the unbearable one.

Now that the decision had been made, however, Dawn was starting to grapple seriously with the enormity of its consequences. She hadn't even thought to bring a toothbrush, for one thing.

"What is he doing," Glory said, looking up at the sound of Dawn's voice only to see Tall Guy rubbing black dirt on her face.

"I must anoint The Key," Tall Guy said.

"You really don't," Glory replied. "That's enough, everybody out! Dawn and me need a little girl time,"

The minions scurried out of the room before Glory finished speaking, leaving the two women alone. They locked eyes from across the room and for a moment the world became very small. The sound of the work being done on the tower seemed farther away than it really was, and only the scent of wood shavings and concrete dust occupied the space between them.

Crossing the room briskly, Glory plucked a tissue from a box and rubbed it against Dawn's forehead vigorously. "You reclaim your godhood, and all of a sudden everyone wants to be part of the inner circle," she complained.

"Can't exactly be a new problem," Dawn said. "From what I've seen they never stop jockeying with each other for your attention,"

"I guess so," Satisfied that she had gotten all the soot off of Dawn's face Glory dropped the tissue absentmindedly.

"You must be getting pretty excited," Dawn probed Glory carefully. Something was wrong. Glory was an exuberant person who was about to see all her desires realized in her highly anticipated ritual. Dawn had some experience with big bads on the verge of victory. Glory should be gloating, showboating, monologuing and celebrating. Instead she was quiet and distracted. Dawn had never seen her so subdued.

"Something is off," Glory admitted. "Something is wrong. It doesn't feel like I expected it to. Maybe I'm hungry?"

"Maybe you're nervous?" Dawn asked. "The big moment is almost here, big changes just around the corner,"

"I don't get nervous," Glory said as she paced around the room, fidgeting with nervous energy.

"I'm glad to hear it," Dawn stepped in her way and stopped the goddess in her tracks. She took Glory's soft and delicate looking hands in her own and raised them up to her face, gently nuzzling her cheek against them. "Because this is really happening, and I can't wait. We are going home,"

"You're sure that's what you want?" Glory's question was barely a whisper. Not long ago she would have been appalled at herself for even asking such a question. What would she even do if Dawn said no? "I know how big it is, making you leave everything behind,"

"I belong with you," Dawn said, "and after what you did for my mother and me . . ."

"I did that because making you happy made me happy," Glory said defensively. "My motivations were purely selfish,"

"It was the most incredible thing anyone has ever done for me," Dawn said. She looked into Glory's eyes, suddenly deeply aware of how close they were. Glorys hands were still gently brushing the edges of her face. Her skin was so warm. "How can I ever thank you?"

Glory watched Dawn's pupils expand, heard her breathing accelerate, her voice deepen. She knew what it meant. Glory had always enjoyed provoking desire in others. It was a fun way of driving mortals haywire, making them act against their own interests, drawing them into what they thought was her confidence. That was all.

Or it was supposed to be. She was a god. She toyed with mortal meat-sacks and their stupid hormones, she didn't succumb to them herself. Or at least, she never had. As much as she hated admitting it, Glory was in uncharted waters here. In all of the eons of her existence, she had never cared for anyone this way. She had never wanted what she wanted now.

Looking at Dawn's face, holding her so close, Glory felt a kind of magnetism pulling them together. Slowly, irresistibly, Glory leaned in closer. Dawns eyes slid closed, her full lips parted. They were so close Glory could measure the distance between them in electrons.

Her breathing was shallow, and Glory could feel her own heart hammering in her chest. She felt dizzy. It reminded her of Ben's first kiss.

As soon as she had the thought Glory felt the wrongness of it. Ben's memories were his own. They didn't share.

Uncertainty and confusion settled in. Glory opened her eyes. The mood was pretty much ruined. Ben always ruined everything.

Dawn felt Glory move away from her and opened her own eyes. They had almost kissed. Glory had almost kissed her, but now she was moving away, her expression hard to interpret. Dawn took a deep breath, trying to stifle her intense disappointment.

She was beginning to wonder if she had done something wrong when she saw Glory reach out a hand to steady herself against the wall. Suddenly the change in her made sense, though understanding it didn't make Dawn feel any better about it.

"Are you ok?" Dawn asked. "Is it Ben?"

"What did you say?" Glory whirled around at the sound of her brother's name. "Why would you bring him up?"

"Well, I just-" Dawn tried to explain, "-oh my gosh, you're Ben," she seemed to realize it herself in the same moment.

"You shouldn't be able to remember that," Glory said, her eyes wide, "no one is supposed to know that!"

Glory tried to reassure herself, remembering that only humans were blinded by the cloak between herself and Ben. Dawny isn't like other humans, she's the Key, and she's getting closer to her own power every day.

That failed to explain it all though, and Glory knew it. She was starting to remember the things Ben did, stuff he wore, feelings he had, the works. Something was very wrong.

"I can't let this happen," Ben said, suddenly standing where Glory had been.

"Oh man," Dawn groaned. "Talk about a third wheel . . ."

Before Ben could respond, however, Glory shifted back into place.

"Damn it," she said, sliding to the ground.

As the goddess resumed arguing with herself Dawn snuck around her to open the door again and call the minions back into the room.

"Something is wrong," Dawn said to Tall Guy, pointing to Glory as she slowly pulled a fistfull of hair from her own scalp. The fact that it grew back instantaneously did not make the sight any less upsetting.

"Now is not the time for you to grow a backbone, Ben," Glory said. "It's kind of a big day, if you haven't been paying attention,"

"My last day," Ben said. He raised his voice to be heard over the wailing of the minions at his appearance, "If you get your way, I disappear. I won't let that happen,"

"How?" Glory asked with a sneer. "Dawn is already stronger than you, and my minions won't let you interfere in the ritual. You've already lost, it's inevitable, face it. I'm a god, and your nothing. So just crawl back into your hole and let the people who actually matter do their jobs,"

"I'm getting stronger and you know it," Ben sneered. "You can't keep me down like you used to, I can come back at any moment and kill your precious Dawn. Try and hug her and it'll be my hands going around her neck. Try and bleed her, and maybe I cut her a little too deep . . ."

Glory shifted back into control of their body with a snarl. Even more infuriating than Ben's betrayal was the fact that Glory wasn't sure how to counter him. He wasn't wrong. Ben could reassert himself at the wrong moment and throw a serious wrench into her plans. He could have threatened to jump off the tower at the wrong moment or mess with their body when Buffy inevitably showed up, but that was not what he had done.

He had threatened Dawn. Gentle Ben had finally learned how to go for the jugular.

What was the point of reclaiming her godhood if she lost Dawn in the process?

"Help me," Glory turned to Tall Guy.

"W-what?" her High Priest replied.

"Ben, obviously. The human meatsack I've been infected with. Do some mojo, make an incision or whatever you gotta do. Get him outta me,"

"This I cannot do," Tall Guy said, his regret plain to see in his creepy black eyes. "You risk terrible magics in opening the portal. Nothing comes without a price. This is yours,"

 _This freaking guy_ , Glory thought. Always giving up at the first sign of resistance. Glory made a mental note to kill him when everything was settled. Her High Priest should be made of sterner stuff.

"Gods don't pay," she reminded him. By then a group of a dozen or so minions had wandered in to gawk. "Ben, get out here. It's time for some group therapy,"

"What are you going to do, Glory?" Ben said. "You can't hurt me. I just have to be patient and wait for my opportunity,"

"Baby Benny," Glory cooed soothingly, "why do you worry so much? I know what you're feeling now. Shhh, hush now Benny, it's ok. No need to be scared anymore, just let Glory take the wheel like always and I'll take care of us,"

"Do you think I'm an idiot? Do you really still think you can trick me now? I stay out of the way and I cease to exist," Ben lunged at one of the minions who had wandered in and seized the knife at his waist.

"Ben, what do you think you're doing?" Glory said.

In reply, Ben simply turned to Dawn and advanced on her, leading with his knife.

Dawn clenched her fists and slid her feet into a more balanced stance. She was 1-0 against Boring Benjamin, and she didn't like the way he was talking to Glory at all.

"Leave Dawn alone," Glory said, reasserting and turning their shared body away from Dawn. Dawn, in turn, exhaled in relief.

"You can't fight me every second," Ben said after Glory tossed away their knife. "I'll always be in the back of our mind, waiting for my chance,"

"I never realized you were this stupid," Glory said, finally becoming frustrated. "You haven't considered all the angles, little brother. Get back in line behind me, where you belong, and maybe I could start to like you again. By the time I'm back in my seat of power, I could like you a lot.

"I'm a god, remember? I'm going to win. You don't wanna die? Stop trying to get in my way. People who get in my way, they're the ones who die. People who help me out, on the other hand? They get rewarded. Don't wanna die? How does immortality sound to you? When you're immortal, all these feelings you don't like - the fear, the anger, the guilt - they just float away like ice cream. Trust me. When all this is over I can set you up real nice,"

They paused then, the two beings debating through one body. After a moment it seemed they reached some kind of internal accord and Glory walked back to Dawn's side, straightening out her robes and fussing with her hair as she did.

"You," Glory pointed to her minion Gronx without looking at her, "get me someone to eat, I'm frickin starving here! Everyone else: back to work,"

"Is everyone on the same page again?" Dawn asked as the minions scurried away.

"Oh yes," Glory said contentedly. "We won't see Ben again until this is over and I'm shedding him like old skin cells,"

Dawn smiled at the idea. "I'm glad," she said, slipping her hand into Glory's and entwining their fingers together. "Let's go tear down the barriers between some dimensions, shall we?"


	18. The Princess and the Tower

**The Princess and the Tower, S5 Ep22**

Bright light speared into existence around Glory's fingers as she drank deeply from the sanity of a fresh victim.

Gronx had often thought it remarkable that, aside from the uncomprehending anguish on the face of the victim, watching Glory feed was such a conventionally beautiful sight.

The way the light burst forth from the victim, the expression of wild, rapturous joy on Glory's face when she fed, the way the air smelled like burning peat afterwards, even the noise it produced, like a massive wave crashing against the shore. The entire process (discounting the victim's inevitable shock and pain) had an uplifting quality that was impossible to look away from.

When a shark consumes another animal, the sight is not inspiring. When humans eat, the act is not glorious. But Glory, even in exile, reduced to feeding to survive on the energies of lesser minds, managed to make the process a vision of resplendent luminescence. She truly was divine.

Gronx's tiny shriveled heart swelled with fulfillment at the knowledge that she had contributed to this sacred and holy rite of sustenance by providing the victim. A single tear of pride wended down her cheek.

"That's the good stuff," Glory sighed as she pushed her victim away. The newly minted crazy shuffled into the crowd, compelled by his exposure to Glory's power to serve his new, higher purpose of aiding in the ritual. "The extra juice will come in handy when Dawn's sister gets here,"

Glory and a handful of attendant minions had been milling somewhat aimlessly outside of the private room when Gronx had arrived with the victim Glory had demanded. Dawn had asked for a moment of real privacy after Glory had presented her with a special gift.

"Surely that won't make any difference," Gronx said. "No humble vampire slayer could possibly cause your stalwart sublimeness to shed so much as a single august drop of aromatic perspiration,"

"Top notch fawning," Glory admitted, "Well done you. But listen Gronx, I have something really important to discuss with you,"

The praise, the sound of her own name of Glory's ruby red and perpetually moistened lips, and the promise of a conversation, was almost too much for Gronx, who only managed to avoiding feinting by the grime of her teeth. She shuffled closer to her god, listening intently, too overcome to speak.

"See, I've been wondering about something," Glory leaned in, putting her hands on Gronx's shoulders, whispering into her long pointy ear, "ever since I started remembering the things Ben did, the conversations he had with people, I've been wondering why you didn't try and stop him when he told you he was planning to kill Dawn,"

Glory paused, looking into the inky black eyes of her dear little minion. That those black pools could express so much emotion, like the pain and fear radiating from Gronx now, never failed to impress Glory.

"Nothing to say in your defense?" Glory said, even though her hands had already closed around Gronx's throat. "C'mon, let me hear it. You've gotten so good at the toadying, let me hear you explain why you let Ben threaten Dawn, and didn't warn anyone. Why you didn't do anything at all,"

Glory's hands tightened, drawing strained, panicked rasps from the minion, but nothing intelligible. Gronx's hands fluttered against Glory's grip, quite uselessly.

"Now's your chance," Glory said. "Feels like your last chance," she felt the first of Gronx's vertebrae pop under her grip. "Say something, or forever hold your peace,"

Glory let the cadaver fall to the floor as soon as the struggling had stopped.

"Get rid of this," She said to the other minions who had been spectating. "And let it be a lesson to all the rest of you. Dawn's life is your life. Anything happens to her and none of you are ever leaving this dump of a world. Spread the word,"

Glory waited until the body had been dragged out of sight to consider the door to the private area. In a strange way, it presented her with a conundrum.

Glory wanted to check on Dawn. But Dawn had asked for privacy. Knocking on the door suggested that Glory needed permission to enter, which was outrageous. Entering unannounced would no doubt delight Dawn (it should delight anyone) but it would be in violation of Dawn's stated wishes.

Glory rolled her eyes. These foolish human emotions were going to drive her even madder than her exile already had.

"How is it going in there babe?" Glory asked through the door.

"Come on in," Dawn said.

"I am coming in," Glory said as she did so, "because I decided to, not because you said it was ok,"

Dawn had changed into the gift Glory had given her; a dress, tailor-made from crimson silk with gold embroidery, finished with long sleeves of a sheer silver cloth banded above the elbows with gold clasps.

The dress matched the crimson and gold patterns of Glory's own ceremonial robes, and fit Dawn like a glove.

For her own part Dawn had noticed the similarities as soon as she saw the dress and was thrilled. Standing next to each other now they must look like they were in a gang together. A two person counterpart to the scoobies.

"Won't be long now," Glory said, referring to the ritual, "One of the boys will come when our proverbial window opens,"

"I still can't believe Ben was evil," Dawn said.

"Ben isn't evil Dawn, I'm evil," Glory said. For some reason she thought of Gronx again. "Ben's just a coward. He wants to live. Can't say I blame him,"

"It'll still be nice to put him behind us," Dawn said.

"You're telling me! While we're on the topic of siblings, we need to talk about yours,"

"Why?" Dawn asked. If she was sure of one thing, it was that Buffy was not going to come for her this time.

"Because Buffy is obviously coming for you," Glory said, "and I need to know what to expect,"

"Why would Buffy try and save me?" The last time Dawn had seen Buffy was outside their house, as Glory had carried her away. The memory resurfaced, as vivid as it was unwelcome, forcing Dawn to see the anguish on Buffy's face all over again. That suffering was her fault, because she choose Glory and abandoned her sister.

"Buffy is going to come for you because she is used to being the toughest biped in her turf. Power had a way of messing up people's priorities. She won't just sit back and let me take you away," Glory said. Noticing Dawn's unhappy expression, she continued "and, because she loves you. Obviously. Overwhelming, uh, sisterly affection, right?"

"Well, if she does come, we can just tell her I'm not going back. I made my choice already,"

Glory hesitated. She didn't want to break the whole truth to Dawn; that Buffy may very well have figured out that the ritual could be ended if Dawn died, and that the Slayer and all her little friends might not be coming to save her at all.

"No, you will have to climb up the tower ahead of me," Glory said. "I'll take care of Buffy myself. That's why I need you to tell me what she might have planned for me,"

"What do you mean, 'take care of Buffy'?"

"The witches, are there just the two of them?" Glory asked, trying her best to reroute the conversation. "Is Xander a werewolf, maybe? And what about the old man, why do you keep him around? Is he a mummy or something?"

"No, Giles is Buffy's Watcher," Dawn said, smiling at the idea of Giles in mummy wrap. "And Xander is just a guy. They have a hammer, it's magic or something, Anya said it was a god's hammer,"

"Mjolnir?" Glory asked. Could they really have gotten their hands on the Thunder God's Hammer?

"No, Olaf. A Troll, he wasn't as strong as you,"

"Oh, whatever. Trolls," Glory said dismissively. "So that's it? No Book of Dagon, no manticore venom, no Staff of Sahjhan? No other tricks up their sleeves?"

"I don't think so. And I was there the last time they talked about fighting you. Buffy decided that the best option was to run away,"

"Smartest idea she's ever had. Wouldn't have saved her though,"

"What do you mean? Why do I have to climb the tower first? If Buffy does show up, what are you going to do?"

Glory rand her hands through her hair and sighed. Dawn crossed her arms.

"You don't think she's going to show up, so there's nothing to worry about right?"

"Glory,"

 _Why not tell her?_ Glory thought. She reasoned that Dawn had to come to terms with their true nature sometime. Might as well be now.

"I'm going to kill her," Glory said, trying to make it sound like a simple thing, like squashing a bug. "It's not personal. I'm a god, remember? You sister invaded my home and stole you away from me. It was disrespectful. I can't be seen tolerating that,"

"No," was Dawn's only reply.

"Once word gets out that a god has gone soft people begin to disobey your orders and then it's nothing but work, work, work, all the time!"

"You can't do that," Dawn might have been in shock. It would explain her trying to tell Glory not to do something. Glory was once again impressed by her own seemingly limitless patience for Dawn's little faux pas.

"Sweetie. There's nothing I can't do,"

"You don't want to hurt me. I know you don't,"

"We aren't talking about hurting you,"

"How would you feel if I died?" Dawn's eyes were wide with an urgency that Glory did not quite understand.

"No one is going to kill you," Glory was disturbed by the mere suggestion of it. "I won't let anyone hurt you,"

"If you kill Buffy, you'll be hurting me,"

Stunned, Glory said nothing. The sudden comprehension filled her head with fire. The humans and their networks of loved ones. She had always been aware of the connections between mortals, how to take advantage of them, the ways it weakened their resolve, how to leverage people's lovers against them. But she had never before been able to understand what loss did to them. She wouldn't have cared before. She had never had anyone she feared to lose.

It was a vulnerability, obviously. Dawn had made her vulnerable.

And she wouldn't trade it for anything, in any dimension. Vulnerability was a small price to pay for the feeling of being near her, of holding her close and knowing she was happy.

Glory was about to say something, she wasn't sure what exactly, when Murk called her name from just outside the room.

"Glory? Forgive me, most amorous sapphic majesty. It's time,"

"Get in here," Glory called to her minion. She turned to Dawn, grasping in her mind for a way to reassure her without lying. "You heard him. Time to start the big show,"

"Glory, please," Dawn said as more minions trickled into the room and began guiding her away, towards the tower. Glory followed them out. "You don't have to do anything! You can choose not to hurt anyone! Glory, promise me?"

"Everything is gonna be alright," She called to Dawn as the girl was led away.

None of this changed the fact that Buffy was coming, and might be coming to kill Dawn for the sake of saving her insignificant world. She owed the Slayer a beating and more. Dawn would make peace with it in time. Once they were home again, and Glory in her seat of power, Dawn could take all the time she needed to grieve. It was even possible her fake memories of her fake sister would start to fade, and it wouldn't even matter.

Glory looked to the tower again, her ticket home. She saw Dawn, now half way up, turn to her as a gust of wind stirred her hair. Their eyes met and Glory longed to climb up after her. She wished things could be as simple as Dawn believed but the truth was that no change was ever possible without conflict.

"I'll be with you soon," Glory assured herself.

"Don't make promises you can't keep," the all too familiar tone of Buffy Summers voice cut through Glory's apprehension and replaced it with certainty. Now that Buffy was here there was no more doubt, no more misgivings. Buffy was an enemy, and there was only one way to handle an enemy.

Glory turned around to see the little slayer standing casually in the open, challenging her with her mere presence. She searched Buffy's eyes to see if she was feeling the same eagerness to conclude their rivalry, but the once-in-a-generation pain in the ass had no emotion in her eyes at all. She almost seemed to be waiting for some kind of cue from Glory to continue.

"I've been waiting too long for this," Glory said.

"Well then," Buffy put her fists up, "come and get it,"


	19. The Last Argument of Queens

**The Last Argument of Queens, S5 Ep22**

Glory shrugged out of her robe and slowly paced around the Slayer, clenching her fists.

"I know why you are really here, Buffy," she said "but I won't let you hurt Dawn,"

"That doesn't make sense," Buffy said, her tone entirely too casual, almost chipper. "You are going to hurt Dawn. I'm here to save Dawn,"

"Don't play games, slay-runt. We both know you're too late to stop the ritual from beginning so you are going to try and end it the other way. I don't know a lot about family, but I'm glad I don't have a sister like you,"

"It's funny," Buffy said, "you're still talking, where if I was in your position, I would attack me,"

"Oh, most sweaty naughty feelings causing one," one of her minions injected himself into their standoff, "should we . . ."

"Go guard Dawn, you worthless dirt," Glory said, brusquely pointing him toward the tower. "This is a diversionary tactic,"

The minions scurried to the base of the tower, corralling as many of the crazies as they could along the way and forming a circle of underwhelming security around the stairs leading to Dawn. Glory heard one of them addressing his fellows in an adorable attempt at an inspirational speech.

Glory felt a satisfied grin spread across her face when a crossbow bolt sprouted from her minions' chest mid-speech and three of the usual suspects burst into view and attacked the group. The vampire, the old man Giles, and Anya. Buffy's little rascals, right on cue.

"Did I call that or what?" she asked no one in particular.

"It's strange," Buffy observed, still seeming unfazed as her friends fought and risked their lives to save her sister, "you're not as blurry with speed as usual either,"

"We haven't even started yet," Glory assured her.

"I don't think that's it," Buffy said, "maybe you're just afraid I'll embarrass you again,"

That touched a nerve. A nerve that Buffy herself was responsible for exposing. As bad as it was to be reminded that Buffy had once gotten the better of her, the fact that a mortal was trying to offend her at all was offensive. It was disrespectful. That combined with the detached and observational tone of her voice was more than Glory could bear.

"You want to make me angry?" Glory asked, "Wish granted!"

Blurry with speed as requested, Glory launched herself at the petite blonde upstart. Her fist slammed into Buffy's chest with more force than she had ever used before. Something crunched under the blow that felt distinctly different from the breaking of run-of-the-mill human bones.

Buffy stumbled back a step, clutching the fist shaped depression in her chest.

"Hey, no fair," she said.

Glory didn't let her finish. Spinning in place, her next blow was a roundhouse kick that removed Buffy's head from her shoulders.

Revealing wires and circuitry where flesh and blood should be. The now-headless robot released a short torrent of sparks and whirring sounds before collapsing.

"Wow," Glory said, standing over her fallen adversary. "The Slayer's a robot! Did everybody else know that the Slayer was a robot?"

"Glory?" asked an all too familiar voice from behind the goddess.

Turning around to confirm what she feared, Glory was greeted by a whoosh of displaced air as an enormous hammer connected with her face. Holding it was another Buffy.

"You're not exactly the brightest god in the heavens, are you?" the Buffy asked as Glory sailed away from her. Buffy strolled towards her, resting the hammer on her shoulder. Dawn had warned her about that weapon, and sure enough it packed a wallop.

Glory landed hard on a pile of loose poles and broken concrete. It was frustrating to be embarrassed in front of someone you hated, and Glory was also angry with herself for being tricked by what was in hindsight not a very convincing robot. The differences in their demeanor seemed obvious now, and Glory could smell sweat and adrenaline coming from the real Buffy. She could hear her heartbeat and her breathing. Glory felt her own cheeks flush with heat. She hated feeling foolish. She was angry enough to spit.

Buffy made a run for the base of the tower, but Glory was already on her feet. She grabbed the slayer by her hair and yanked her off the ground.

The little nuisance used the momentum of her own fall to tuck her legs and with a kip-up was back on her feet in an instant. She brought the hammer around in a wide and powerful arch and connected with the side of Glory's head.

Glory was more prepared for the power of the blow the second time around, and the hammer did not take her off her feet again. Buffy followed up with a kick to her stomach and raised the hammer for an overhead swing.

Glory punched her in the face. Buffy's head snapped back, but she still managed to bring the hammer down, ringing Glory's head like a bell.

She stumbled back and Buffy followed, pressing her advantage with a flurry of kicks and strikes, driving Glory against a half-finished wall.

"Enough!" Glory snapped in frustration. She pushed herself off the wall and grabbed the Slayer. She looked into Buffy's eyes as the smaller woman strained to wrestle out of her grip and found what she had searched for in the robot's eyes: hate. She saw the same hunger for confrontation and victory in Buffy's eyes that she herself was feeling. Buffy's teeth drew back in a snarl.

Glory headbutted her. Then it was the Slayer who stumbled backwards, and Glory wrenched the magic hammer from her grip before she could regain her composure.

"This is a trinket," She said as she flung the Hammer into the sky like a javelin, sending it to another time zone. "And I am a god,"

"You can't take her," Buffy said, launching herself at her opponent again. "I won't let you, she's staying here with her family!"

Punches and kicks connected with all the supernatural strength the slayer had, and all the precision that years of training and experience had imparted to her. Glory was indifferent. The attacks were harmless. On their own they would have bored her, but Buffy had her full attention.

Glory slapped her down viciously, the crack of the blow reverberating around the construction site.

"She doesn't belong to you," Glory told her as she reached down and hoisted the slayer over her head. Buffy's face floated in front of her, upside down, as she held her up for a moment. "She never did!"

Glory hurled the young woman with all of her might, sending her crashing into the private room, demolishing a wall as she tumbled through it.

"And FYI, I'm not 'taking her' at all," Glory went on as a cloud of dust billowed away from the debris where Buffy came to a halt. "She choose this, she choose me. Honestly, how did you think this was going to play out?"

A sound like a dull explosion filled the air directly behind Glory. She whirled around to see the wall behind her burst apart, and an enormous wrecking-ball barrelling down on her.


	20. Bargaining

**Bargaining, S5 Ep22**

From the top of the crude tower the town of Sunnydale stretched out beneath Dawn much like a town would when viewed from a high vantage point. A combination of clouds, smog, and light pollution rendered the sky a uniform and gloomy black, but the lights of Sunnydale spread out beneath her like a yellow-tinted constellation under her feet.

The tower was capped with a small platform, about the size of an elevator car, out of which a narrow grated gangplank jutted into the empty air. From the edge of that gangplank, several hundred feet up, Dawn could see when the fighting broke out on the ground, but the figures were too far away to tell who was who or how the struggle was unfolding.

So Dawn stood at the edge of the gangplank and waited for either her sister or Glory to arrive and break her heart.

If Glory appeared first, Buffy was almost certainly dead. Dawn wanted to believe she had gotten through to Glory, that the goddess was growing in ways no one could have foreseen, but she knew it was probably wishful thinking. Glory had not been sending any mixed signals as far as her fundamental evilness was concerned. Buffy had challenged her, and so Glory would kill her as readily as she had killed all the Knights of Byzantium.

If Buffy appeared on the platform it meant that she had found a way to defeat Glory, maybe even kill her. The best case scenario if Buffy appeared would be that the ritual would be foiled and their hopes and dreams of returning to her home and starting some kind of life together had been dashed. If Glory was still alive in that case the fighting would only get worse. Her goddess would not be able to tolerate living in a world where Buffy had defeated her and went unpunished.

To her surprise and temporary relief it was neither Glory nor Buffy who appeared to her first. A hunched figure in a ratty brown robe shambled into view, a thick white medical bandage wrapped around his head like a turban.

"Jinx!" Dawn called to him, "I was afraid you were dead,"

"How thoughtful of you," Jinx replied as an enormous grin spread across his ugly features. "Your kindness could tame a rampaging Targ, most sacred and loveliest revealer of thresholds,"

Loveliest revealer of thresholds? Dawn realized that Jinx was toadying to her the same way he did to Glory. It was unexpected, but all things considered, it made sense and Dawn was surprised by how comfortable she was with it.

"My people don't have much to brag about when compared to other demons," Jinx went on as he approached Dawn, "but as you can see, we are quite durable,"

"That's not your only virtue," Dawn said. "I'm glad you're here. I need to get back down there. I have to help Glory. And my sister,"

"I'm afraid that is quite impossible," Jinx said with a grimace. He drew a long blade from his robe as he continued, "Her most supreme unparalleled marvelousness gave me specific instructions. As she is temporarily preoccupied wrapping up her earthly business, I have the honor of initiating the holy ritual,"

"Jinxy, get real," Dawn said, as calmly as she could. Her poker face was up like the shields of the Starship Enterprise, and she made an extra effort to straighten her spine and adopt the air of confidence that was Glory's natural posture. "Who do you imagine is in charge up here?"

"Glory, of course," Jinx said. He smiled at Dawn, but his eyes had narrowed.

"Correct," Dawn said, "and when she is not here, when it's just you and me, who gives the orders then?"

"Uhm-"

"Exactly," Dawn cut the minion off. She held her own hand out expectantly, not looking directly at Jinx. "Now hand me the knife,"

A moment stretched between them, in which Dawn felt sure she had pushed her luck too far. She waited for the dice to land, so to speak, hoping that the little fellow's natural subservience would help him along.

Jinx didn't move, so at last Dawn turned her head to meet Jinx's gaze directly. An image came to her mind of a look her mother would give her when she and Buffy had been fighting and neither of them was willing to apologize. A kind of stern, _What are you Waiting For?_ expression. She put on her best Momface and stared down her minion.

Jinx carefully placed the knife in her hand and took a small step back.

"That's my boy," Dawn said, putting a hand on the little demon's shoulder and steering him along. "When we're home, I won't forget everything you've done, and I'll make sure Glory remembers you too-"

Before she could finish a dark shape swung up from beneath them, slamming into Jinx and knocking him off the gangplank. The dark figure landed where Jinx had been and rose up with the familiar dramatic fluttering of a black leather trench coat.

"What are you doing here, Spike!" Dawn demanded.

"Rescuing you-" The vampire said,

"I hope I survive this!" Jinx cried out as he tumbled down to earth.

"-from a tramp worshiping little hobbit demon," Spike finished.

"Poor Jinxy," Dawn said, looking over the side. She couldn't quite see where he had landed.

"Reckon I did the bloke a favor," Spike muttered. "Jinxy is a name for a kittycat, not a monster,"

"I had him wrapped around my finger," Dawn said.

"Yeah? What did you offer him, a free box of girl scout cookies?" Spike said as he took Dawn by the wrist, "Didn't hike all the way up here for sass, nibblet. Come on,"

"Why are you getting involved at all?" Dawn asked, pulling out of his grip. Buffy would not have asked Spike for help unless she was really desperate.

"Made a promise to a lady, if you must know," Spike said. Instead of grabbing Dawn again he looked around anxiously. "Can we be on our merry way already? Big sis is missing you, and I'm not exactly keen to get caught up here with my trousers down,"

 _He's afraid Glory is coming,_ Dawn realized. If Buffy was allowing Spike to help, even after the super-gross robot incident, and he was looking over his shoulder every three seconds it stood to reason that the fight was not going well for them.

"Come on already," Spike reached out to Dawn again impatiently.

"Stop!" Dawn said, stepping back and placing the edge of Jinx's knife against her own palm.

"Whoa there, little bit," Spike said, putting his hands up, "You don't know what you're doing,"

"I don't think you know what you're doing," Dawn said. "What did Buffy promise you to get you involved in this?" Her mind raced and she remembered Spike lurking outside their house on Buffy's birthday, a box of chocolates in his hand, she remembered him escorting her to the Magic Shop so she would be safe the night she found out about her real self, she remembered him showing up at the hospital with everyone else to "save" her from Glory, and Glory had told her he had been watching over her at the cemetery the night her mother had died, and now here Spike was again, risking his own life to try and "save" her yet again. It all made sense in a flash of insight.

"Buffy didn't have to promise you anything," Dawn said. Spike looked away, knowing that his secret was about to be revealed, "You are in love with me!"

Spike's head jerked back as though Dawn had actually slapped him in the face.

"No! No I'm bloody not!" He yelled. Dawn felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment. His shock was too genuine, his voice too appalled, for his protest to be an act. "I'm in love with your sister, right!? I had a robot made to look like Buffy, I've been stalking Buffy for going on a year now!"

"Well you don't have to act like it's the worst thing imaginable!" Dawn yelled back, finding herself feeling defensive. "I'm very . . . people like me!"

"Look, you're just a kid-"

"Oh, sure. Because Dru was such a picture of maturity and womanhood," Dawn said, her voice shifting to mimic Drusilla's unhinged breathless baby-talk, "Spikey-poo, let's go beddy-bye and play with my wittle dollies. They've been naughty,"

Spike flinched. "As spot-on as that impression may be, now isn't the time to get caught up in an argument," He took a slow step towards Dawn again, who still had a knife pressed against her own skin. "Now you know why I'm here, so let's just leave together and not start the apocalypse, and we can talk things out after, yeah?"

"No," Dawn didn't have to think about it. She had made up her mind as soon as she had put the knife against her own skin. The knife was not coming away dry. She was starting the ritual herself. It would show everyone how things were, it was a line that could not be un-crossed, and, once the portal was opened only Glory knew how to end the ritual safely. And now that Spike was in the mix, Dawn thought she knew a way she could keep Buffy safe as well.

"Buffy despises you," she told the handsome Vamp. "She will never love you. What exactly are you hoping to get out of this, that maybe the next time Buffy looks at you there will be a little _less_ contempt in her eyes?"

"Jeez, Dawn, when did you turn into such a huge-"

"No, you need to hear this," Dawn said. What she was saying might sound cruel, but it was true. Buffy would never love Spike. Dawn knew as well as anyone how much Buffy detested him. He deserved to know that, and to not have to live his life with false hope and looking like a fool every night. "You're evil, like Glory is evil, but you've both been good to me, so I want you to hear this. You know why she hasn't staked you yet Spike? Pity. You must have at least suspected as much yourself. She told me once that at least when you were trying to kill each other she could still respect you. Now that you've been defanged, well, you know what they call a snake without fangs? A worm,"

"What? I came up here to save you not to listen to this drivel,"

"I don't need to be saved Spike, I'm right where I'm supposed to be. You need to be saved. Saved from this pathetic puppy dog role you've been cast into. You don't want to be in love with a Slayer who doesn't love you back, that's not who you're supposed to be. You were a legendary badass, feared by do-gooders for centuries. You could be that again,"

"Sorry, Summers," Spike said, "I think I've heard this tune before. Problem is, no one else ever holds up their end of the bargain. Fool me once, and all that,"

"I'm making you the offer now. I will keep my word. Do what I say, and I will owe you a favor, and Glory will owe you a favor. I can make sure she holds up her end. Did Buffy tell you about Glory and me?"

"She might have mentioned-"

"Good. Let me tell you, there is nothing like having a god on your side. You do exactly what I say, and then my Goddess and I will have a talk about getting that chip out of your head,"


	21. End Times

**Well this is it. This is the end of season 5, and I am marking this story as complete. I have solid plans for a season 6, and beyond, but for the time being I am taking a little break to work on some other projects.**

 **Before the last chapter though I just wanted to take a second to say thanks to everyone who took the time to leave a review. They really meant the world to me and I have read through all of them a hundred times at least! Also, it's not too late to leave a comment now if the mood strikes you ;)**

 **Thanks everybody, you are the best!**

 **W.W.**

* * *

 **End Times, S5 Ep22.**

Glory pinwheeled through the air away from the wrecking ball, momentarily alone with her frustration.

In her current state she couldn't control her trajectory by flight, she could not alter her gravitational center or her density to stabilize herself, and she couldn't summon an explosion to change her velocity.

Having caught a wrecking ball with her face, Glory was left at the mercy of earth's physics. All she could do was tumble through the air and wait to land. It left her feeling like she was in the dark place again. Helpless.

When at last she did land it was only after crashing through a pair of walls and skidding along the ground for far too long. She rose to her feet and made her way clear of the rubble around her, imagining the horrors she would inflict on whoever was behind this fresh outrage.

The wrecking ball was moving again. It swung through the air, picking up momentum as it careened towards the crowd of crazies and minions at the base of the tower.

Glory did what she did best: ran up to the source of her frustration and punched it with all of her might.

The huge steel orb shuddered on the end of its line and produced a sharp shrieking sound as the metal deformed and a crack snaked vertically up the ball where Glory had struck.

Grabbing the wrecking ball before it could bounce away, Glory hurled the object back where it came from. She was disappointed when the line pulled the wrecking ball up short of the cab at the end of the crane, instead smashing its own tower mast to pieces and collapsing it. It would have been poetic to kill the operator with his own weapon, but when Glory spied Xander scrambling out of the cab she decided that it was fine. He could live.

The thought brought her back to more pressing concerns and she hurried back to the spot where she had left Buffy before Xander went and stuck his nose in their business. Of course Buffy was gone. Glory closed her eyes and took a deep breath, willing herself to think clearly instead of stomping her foot on the ground until she caused an earthquake that buried them all.

Looking to her tower, Glory saw precisely what she expected: her minions on the ground slowly getting back on their feet as Buffy dashed up the tower as fast as she could.

"Oh no you don't," Glory muttered as she raced after the Slayer.

Buffy was entirely focused on navigating the chaotic interior of the tower as quickly as she could. She knew Xander's trick would only slow Glory down, and, since Olaf's hammer was gone and Willow and Tara were AWOL she had to use whatever time she had to get between Dawn and Glory. She figured if she was lucky she could delay Glory until the window to perform her ritual closed or Spike managed sneak away with her sister.

But even with all of her attention devoted to speed she heard it when the wrecking ball crashed into its own crane and destroyed itself. Glory would be right behind.

Buffy planted her feet and instinctively scanned her environment for an advantage. As always, the apprehension she had been feeling melted away as she got closer to the real fight. These moments were why people like her existed. She felt in her bones that she was exactly where she was supposed to be. When Glory appeared at the bottom of a ramp leading up to her, one thought filled her mind with clarity:

 _I am the Slayer._

Glory looked up to where Buffy stood waiting for her. She was surprised that the little runt had stopped running, having fully expected to have to catch up with her and stop her in her tracks with a kidney shot or something.

The goddess fussed with her windswept hair as she walked up to Dawn's sister. "OK, I'm going to give you one last chance . . . you know what, on second thought, no I'm not. I'm just gonna kill ya, Buffy,"

"It's funny," Buffy said, unfazed, "every time one of you bigshots threatens me like that I get the feeling you expect me to act like it's the first time I've heard it,"

"And I've heard defiance before too," Glory said. "Wanna know how many people have defied me and lived to brag about it?"

"I know at least two," Buffy said. "And they're both on the other side of the portal you want to drag my sister through,"

Glory stared at the Slayer with her mouth hanging open in shock. Her outrage sent a shiver from the base of her skull all the way down her spine.

"How dare you bring them up? Who do you think you are? I was stabbed in the back! They betrayed me, because they were afraid of me! And when I get home, those bastards are going to learn how right they were to fear me. I am going to rain down horrors on them that your pitiful human brain can't even imagine, and your sister is going to help me every step of the wa-"

Glory had angrily crossed the space between herself and Buffy to vent her anger directly into the human's stupid face when Buffy lashed out like a viper and took hold of Glory's arm. In a single smooth motion Buffy pulled Glory forward and turned to shift the Goddess's weight over her hip.

Glory, caught completely off guard after getting caught up in her own revenge monologue, had just enough time to feel astonished as her own body was leveraged against her by her smaller, weaker opponent. Her feet left the ground and the exposed edge of the tower behind Buffy came into view.

Then a white light washed over the scene as an interdimensional portal yawned opened above them accompanied by a clap of thunder. Every muscle in Buffy's body froze in an instant as she stared in wide-eyed disbelief at the portal.

Glory, witnessing the same phenomenon, felt the light on her face like the heat of a sacred inferno and felt herself reinvigorated. The Slayer's hesitation allowed her to plant her feet back on the floor and save herself from tumbling over the edge of the tower.

"No," Buffy whispered, her eyes still fixed on the swirling circle of light above them.

She did not resist as Glory seized her by the throat and lifted her off her feet. Glory hammered the unresisting slayer with a flurry of punches before hauling her over the edge of the tower. Her feet dangled in the empty air as Glory held her up.

And hesitated. Glory went still, knowing how dangerous it was to hesitate, while every instinct within her cried out for her to kill her enemy, to crush her throat and let her fall. That's who she is. A god of terror and destruction does not let insults go unpunished, does not let an enemy live. Moments ago she had even said out loud that she was going to kill Buffy. When a god says she will do a thing, she does it.

Against all of this a quiet voice whispered, _If you kill Buffy, you'll be hurting me._

A long moment unfolded as Glory struggled with indecision for what might have been the first time in her existence.

"Buffy," Glory said at last. The Slayer finally took her gaze away from the portal above them and Glory saw the wet streaks running down the young woman's face. She had been crying. Glory smirked as she came to her decision. "I'm going to need you to keep a secret for me,"

"Buffy!" a man's voice cried out from behind her. Glory turned and saw the platinum haired vampire, Spike, coming down the ramp that led to the pinnacle of the tower. The little bloodsucker took in the scene in a microsecond and lunged at them.

Glory took a half step to the side, still holding Buffy up with one hand, and wound her other fist back to punch this frequent interloper into oblivion. Then she realized that his eyes were locked on the Slayer. The vamp rushed forward, his arms reaching out to Buffy.

Glory watched as the soulless vampire flung himself past her and wrapped his arms around the Vampire Slayer's waist, taking the problem of Buffy right out of her hands. Spike's momentum carried them both into the open air and they fell back to earth together.

"What a strange vampire," Glory said to herself.

 _Vampire!_ The word repeated in Glory's mind, accompanied by a horrible thought. The vampire had come down from above them. He would have been with Dawn when the ritual started, which meant that Dawn had been bleeding in front of this Vampire with no one to protect her but Jinxy. Or worse, the vamp had done something that left Dawn bloody.

Glory leapt up the outside of the tower, kicking and pulling herself up the unfinished structure's skeleton. Such was her speed and urgency that she nearly overshot the gangplank where Dawn stood waiting for her.

"Babe!" Glory called to her, a surge of primal joy overwhelming her at the sight of Dawn. Apart from some blood on her left palm she was unhurt. "You're ok,"

"Yeah of course,"

"There was this vampire . . ." Glory crossed the space between them in a few steps and pulled Dawn close.

"I made a deal with him," Dawn said quickly, "Is Buffy-?"

"She's fine," Glory said, still clutching Dawn. "She's alive. She fell off the tower, but she's tough, she'll live,"

This seemed good enough for Dawn, who exhaled deeply and finally wrapped her own arms around her goddess.

"Thank you," Dawn said.

"You don't have to thank me," Glory said. She pulled away only just enough to look into Dawn's eyes again. "What did you promise the vamp?"

"Nothing major," Dawn said. She glanced down at the portal. "We can talk about that later,"

Glory understood her meaning. "Right. Big moment," Glory looked down at the ring of energy beneath them, considered the promise it held. The realization of her decades old vendetta was right under her feet, waiting for her to step through. She lingered.

The moment was too perfect to rush. Dawn leaned against her and Glory felt every point of contact between them with dizzying intensity. The softness of the girl's body under her dress, her warmth, were like something out of a dream. The winds generated by the portal's energy played with Dawn's hair and the fierce light emanating from it illuminated Dawn's pale skin so that she seemed to glow with an inner light. Watching her was mesmerizing.

"I love you," Dawn said, "I just needed to tell you that. I don't know how well you get human beings and our emotions yet, but I needed to say it,"

"You are not a human being," Glory said, "and you are not the Key anymore either. You, Dawn Summers, are an angel. You're my angel. And I love you too,"

Then, without thought, both women leaned into the kiss they had desired for so long. Glory was cautious, afraid to hurt Dawn with her strength, and teasingly brushed Dawn's lips with her own. The girl made a low sound in her throat and pulled Glory into a deep embrace. Dawn's kiss was urgent, demanding. She pulled against her goddess as if she meant to climb her. Their physical connection set her body humming with waves of ecstasy.

Glory held Dawn as tightly as she dared, cherishing her. Overwhelmed by feelings she still didn't understand, with her heart thundering in her chest, Glory thought she must either explode or weep, and soon. Dawn's lips were impossibly soft. With senses greater than any human, Glory felt the raw energy passing back and forth between them crackling across her skin.

Then Dawn broke the embrace with a gasp, and peppered Glory's neck and shoulder with smaller, gentler kisses.

"That was my first kiss," Dawn whispered, still catching her breath.

Glory laughed loudly, surprising herself with the extent of her own delight. "Babe, how do you always know just what to say?"

Hand in hand, the duo moved to the edge of the gangplank. The white energy of the portal snapped and churned beneath them.

"Ready?" Glory looked into her beloved's eyes and saw readiness.

Nevertheless, Dawn pulled herself a bit closer to her goddess as she looked down at the portal. "Just don't let me go,"

"Never," Glory smiled.

They stepped off as one and fell together into their future.


End file.
